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A provocative French anti-smoking campaign which features adolescents in a subservient sexual position has been banned after sparking a firestorm of protests, reports The Independent.

The ads debuted in bars, cafés and tobacco shops Monday in France, and photographs of them have accompanied various media stories since the campaign was launched. Sponsored by Droits des Non-Fumeurs (DNF), an association for non-smokers' rights, the ads each show a teenager with a cigarette in his or her mouth, apparently kneeling down in front of a man in a suit. The caption reads, "Smoking means being a slave to tobacco."

DNF director Remi Parola, in an interview with The Associated Press, asserted that the ads, which were developed pro bono by the BDDP & Fils advertising agency, were not really about sex at all.

"The visuals have a sexual connotation, that I can't deny, but it's really a way to start a discussion with young people to get them to understand the dangers of smoking."

In spite of the anti-smoking message, critics slammed the campaign for its graphic images, saying that these were offensive, pornographic, and ultimately ineffective. "There are other ways to explain to teenagers that cigarettes are addictive," said Secretary of State for Family Affairs Nadine Morano, who characterized the campaign as a "public outrage to decency".

Similar views were expressed by family-oriented and feminist civil society groups. Even those in the tobacco industry were in an uproar, with the Confederation of Tobacco Vendors saying that the intent of the ads was "no longer prevention, but uncalled-for provocation."

In a statement on the ban, the DNF said it was pleased that it had generated a debate on the increasing number of French teenagers who smoke. "The campaign will be limited to those materials which have already been issued," it said.

The association also expressed the hope that those who had been adversely affected by the suggestive images would "also be shocked by the plague of precocious smoking amongst their children and their grandchildren."

Teenage smoking has long been a problem in France. Although smoking in public places was banned in 2008, and efforts have been made to crack down on those who sell cigarettes to minors, the habit remains prevalent among the French youth.

According to a recent study by the French Watchdog of Drugs and Addictions, fully one-third of 17-year-olds smoke. The non-enforcement of the smoking ban may be a significant contributing factor, experts have said.