Ad drives us Barker mad

She became a TV star through her appearances in Changing Rooms.

The electrical store's adverts featuring Barker were among those named by the advertising industry as its 12 'turkeys of the year'.

They show the designer doing little except making a scissors motion with her fingers to signify cutting prices.

Campaign magazine, which gave out the 'accolades', said: 'Currys wins the award for most irritating use of Linda Barker - and competition in this category was very stiff.'

Barker, 42, also appeared in an advert for furniture store DFS but that did not make the top 12.

The worst was a poster for no-frills airline easyJet. Branded 'crude and distasteful' by Campaign, it showed a woman's bust with the line 'discover weapons of mass distraction' above it.

And an advert for Clinomyn toothpaste, featuring a woman in a tooth costume chatted up by a man dressed as curry, prompted the query: 'Did somebody's child come up with this?'

Four car adverts made the list, including one for the Renault Megane which showed people shaking their bottoms. 'We were absolutely dumbfounded,' said Campaign. 'What does this car have to do with grinding arses?'

Another for the Nissan Micra made up new words by fusing two together, such as 'spacious' and 'safe' to make 'spafe'.

Campaign came up with a word of its own to describe it: 'Shollocks'.