Lush body-positivity campaign removed after complaints about "pornographic" images

The models, who are also employees at the cosmetics company, said they also received a hugely positive response

The Advertising Standards Bureau upheld four complaints that an image of four naked women showing their bottoms was offensive to the community (Lush)

A positive body-image advertising campaign was taken down from shop windows after complaints that it was "offensive" and "pornographic in nature".

The images of four naked women holding onto one another - tattoos, beauty, cellulite and all - for UK-based cosmetics retailer Lush were rolled out across Australia and New Zealand as part of a drive to showcase women in an uncensored and real way, according to CosmeticBusiness.

But four official complaints were made in Queensland to the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) against the campaign, with one woman complaining they were at a "child's eye level".

The GoNaked campaign was promoting not using plastic packaging for products, and body positivity in women, but offended some viewers (Lush)

Despite the Lush team saying that the images were designed "not to titillate, but with the utmost respect for these wonderful human beings", the images were ruled as breaching community and parental standards of what should be involuntarily viewed in public, reported CosmeticsBusiness.

Customers, meanwhile, had apparently described the GoNaked campaign as "inspirational" for highlighting the issue of too much packaging on cosmetic products and promoting body positivity.

The cosmetics group responded to the complaint: "The women in the images are members of the Lush team, who felt strongly about this issue [...] The image is completely untouched, as we feel that we should not be ashamed of our bodies in their natural state, and that every single one of us is beautiful in our diversity [...]".

A model for the campaign and Lush employee Courtney Fry said much of the feedback had been positive. She told BuzzFeed: "The absolute best reaction was an older woman who was giggling with her friend at the window display, and then smacked me on the bum and told me I was doing a 'bloody good job, love.'"

Yet the complaints against the campaign felt the images were pornographic. One mother had written: "I am offended as this is nudity for the sake of causing a stir and is offensive and unnecessary. [...] I'm sorry but I never for myself or my children to be exposed to nudity on our weekly shopping trip!".

Last year, the most complained about advert was disgraced marital infidelity site Ashley Madison encouraging men to have affairs - set to a song called "I'm looking for someone other than my wife" - with which the ASB could not find anything wrong or of misconduct, according to the Mail Online.