#HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge: Selfie campaign created by adult modelling agency criticised for 'making breast cancer sexy'

Gemma Jaxx and Danny Frost insist they started the hastag 'as a joke'

Women have been posting photographs of themselves to raise awareness for breast cancer (Serena Treccani/Zahreno/Instagram)

We've had 'no make-up selfies' and the ice bucket challenge – but the latest campaign taking social media by storm has been criticised for trying to make breast cancer sound "sexy".

Many women have already taken part in the #HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge, snapping photos of themselves with bottles or cans of Coke between their breasts, with their nipples subtly - and sometimes a little less subtly - covered up.

But some people criticised it for making breast cancer seem "sexy".

The #HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge has been met with criticism (Ryan He Jia Hao/Haoryan/Instagram)

Others took to Twitter to denounce the challenge as "unhealthy".

And some used it as an excuse to poke fun at those taking part, with men getting in on the act, too.

It comes amid revelations that the challenge was started by an adult modelling agency.

Gemma Jaxx, a model, took responsibility for the hashtag - which she said she thought up alongside a colleague, Danny Frost, to "make fun" of other challenges - like the 'Kylie Jenner lip challenge' and the 'step on the flag' challenge - and wasn't anything to do with charity in the first place.

She wrote: "We never thought it would take off like it did. But it did. And then people started posting it was for charity and it was for breast cancer awareness. We had never plan [sic] on that nor thought of it.

Gemma Jaxx said the #HoldACokeWithYourBoobsChallenge had been started 'as a joke' (Gemma Jaxx/Elite Talent Referral/Facebook)

"But since that's what people want to do it for, we said why not do something good with this. So we went with it."

Ms Jaxx then called for people to challenge their friends to take part. "They can ether [sic] do the challenge, donate to their favorite charity, or both. It's up to them."

And she had a message for her critics: "Keep in mind that when we started this, it had nothing to do for cancer, but that the people who were taking part in it wanted it to be.

"Let's face some real facts. Not every woman does their exams or goes and gets a mammogram. Several people are on the mind set it will never happen to me, I'm to [sic] young or old for it to happen to me, my boobs are too small... and so on and so on...

"So if this gets a few of those types of girls to do their check ups and prevents them from losing their breast or dying from breast cancer by doing something fun and goofy, does it not make it worth it?

"If one girl, Just one if not more, life was saved because she felt something in her breast when she did this challenge, isn't it worth it?"

Danny Frost, the co-creator of #Holdacokewithyourboobschallenge (Danny Frost/Facebook)

Danny Frost, of Elite Talent Referral, the adult talent-scouting company behind the campaign, told Bash Feed: "It grew into something for a good cause. When people started posting that it was for charity, we then decided to go with it, and said why not?

"We tell people to get their mammograms and to donate to any breast cancer charity they want too [sic]."

A Breast Cancer Care spokesperson told The Independent: “It is brilliant that the internet and social media give people the tools and opportunity to create their own campaigns to raise awareness and funds for charities. But this is not a campaign we are involved with."