The campaign prompted complaints from consumers who felt that its sadomasochistic tone was offensive.
The poster, created by Lowe Worldwide to promote a Tesco Metro store in Soho, was displayed in local London Underground stations.
The ASA accepted that the ad was a humorous take on Soho's associations with the sex industry, but ruled that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. In its defence, Tesco and Lowe produced research conducted in the streets of Soho, which contained mostly positive responses to the campaign.
A second ad, depicting shoppers dressed as the Village People, also received complaints about its stereotypical representation of homosexual men. However, the complaints were rejected by the ASA.
Separately, following a complaint by rival Orange, Vodafone has been banned from claiming in national press advertising that it is the UK's best network or that it has the strongest signal.
Vodafone said that the claim was based on an Oftel survey. However, the ASA ruled that the results of the survey were insufficient to justify the ad's claims that Vodafone enjoyed unquestioned market leadership.
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