Public ire over 'raunchy' Honey Birdette lingerie ad in Australia

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SYDNEY: Residents here have criticised an 'appalling' raunchy ad put out by the controversial lingerie chain Honey Birdette, likening it to 'soft porn'.

People have started an online petition to demand the authorities to remove the ad and take action against those responsible.

A woman said that she avoided walking past the store at the Macquarie Centre because she did not want her children to see the window banners.

"People can buy what they like and that's fine but I think they shouldn't be allowed to have that sort of advertising there in a public space," she said.

"He's a little boy and we're carefully teaching him about consent and respect, and then you go to a public place and have that potentially undone by seeing these soft porn images that are enormous, they're absolutely massive," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Kat Israel as saying.

The AMP Capital, which owns the Macquarie Centre, said it passes on the feedback from customers from time to time to individual retailers.

"We encourage customers who have any concerns about what they see in our centre to contact management," she was quoted as saying.

Another resident said his heart sank when he walked past the lingerie store in Westfield Fountain Gate.

Kenneth Thor said the banners featured "near naked women clad only in sheer lingerie in all their raunchy glory".

"Even worse, (my daughter's) shrieks caught the attention of my six-year-old son, who came running and together they stared and pointed at the porn-style images trying to make sense of them," he added.