New Delhi, May 17: Two controversial advertisements for undergarments have been pulled off air by several television channels since the last two days.

Though there were complaints from viewers that the Frenchie X and Lux Cozy undergarment advertisements were suggestive in nature, there was no official order issued to broadcasters by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to withdraw these advertisements, industry sources claimed.

Representatives of channels were not available for comments on the issue despite repeated attempts. According to reports, the said advertisements were repeatedly being aired during the IPL matches telecast on a channel.

However, the Centre had recently asked certain television channels to run scrolls apologising to viewers for running these advertisements. These channels ran the scrolls for three days.

Official sources said that in 2007, the Ministry had taken cognizance of complaints against similar types of advertisements of Gen-X and Lux Cozy undergarments. It had in a notice to broadcasters asked them to be more careful in future about selection of content of advertisements.

The recent pulling off air of the two advertisements is being seen in the light of the Centre`s action last year.

The "Self Regulation Guidelines 2008" issued by the Ministry this year, which calls for strict monitoring of content by broadcasters, is being seen as another reason.

Bureau Report