12:52pm UK, Wednesday June 09, 2004

An advert for women's underwear has angered Muslims after it was put up on billboards close to two mosques.    

The poster, for Wiltshire-based company Sloggi, shows four women wearing only G-strings and high heels.

The offending image

Written across them is the slogan "It's string time".    

Complaints were made after the image appeared on billboards next to mosques in Leeds and Greater Manchester.    

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled it was not meant to cause offence.    

But it said the "nakedness" could upset some if placed near a mosque or other place of worship.    

Triumph International, which owns the Sloggi brand, said it told its contractors to avoid using poster sites near mosques.    

The company was urged by the ASA to "take more care" in future.