The ad, created by WCRS, shows couples texting each other and then rushing to meet, before being filmed in various clinches and featured the strapline "Get the flirting over with before you get home. Text it".
Complaints ranged from people saying that the ad should not be shown at all, to comments that the ad directly linked texting to sex, when many children had mobile phones and frequently used the text message service.
Originally the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre had advised that the ad could not be shown during children's programming, arguing that the ad showed no more than couples -- who it noted were fully dressed -- kissing and embracing.
However, the Independent Television Commission has upheld complaints against the ad, and ruled it should only be shown after 7.30pm saying it "judged that it was [a] more suitable [time], given the overall impression of the advertisement and in keeping with viewers' expectations of what they were likely to see at that time of day".
Print ads showing a partly clothed couple with a woman pressed against the wall and a man kneeling between her legs were also banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, which deemed the ad "explicit and gratuitous".
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