The ad, which appeared in The Observer's Body Uncovered supplement in October last year, showed a woman, who was wearing black leather gloves and lingerie, sitting astride another woman, who was lying on her back. The woman wearing gloves was holding a stocking that was stretched around the other woman's neck.
Agent Provocateur said that the image has originally appeared in its mail order catalogue and it had supplied it to The Observer as a "one-off" for use in the supplement. It claimed that it believed the ad promoted women as being in control of their own sexuality and that the "sexual playfulness depicted was intended to be tongue-in-cheek".
The Observer said that although the ad was risque it thought it was unlikely to offend the adults at whom the magazine was targeted.
Agent Provocateur has agreed not to use the image again in national press advertising.
The Advertising Standards Authority said it considered the image was likely to cause serious offence and was pornographic and degrading to women. Furthermore it ruled that the ad was inappropriate for publication in a national newspaper supplement.
The ASA took into account the heavy stylisation, reflecting the nature of Agent Provocateur but found that the theme of sexual violence was too strong.
It asked Agent Provocateur to seek advice from the Committee of Advertising Practice Copy Advice team before using a similar approach in future.
Agent Provocateur unveiled a host of digital marketing initiatives in January as it tries to repeat the success of its infamous viral campaign, which featured pop star Kylie Minogue.
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