Elle the kitchen devil

A new television advertising campaign for Elle Macpherson's Intimates lingerie range is set to spark a storm of protest in Britain. The advertisements show a woman in a lacy bra and knickers caressing a set of carving knives.

And the same model, in silk gown, kneels to mop up a pool of blood from the kitchen floor.

The advertisements have already generated huge controversy in Macpherson's native Australia, where the advertising standards authority has received a flood of complaints. And they are about to be aired for the first time in Britain.

Campaign groups today spoke out against the advertisements, which will feature in magazines and be broadcast on TV and in cinemas after 9pm this month.

A spokesman for pressure group MediaWatch UK said: "These kinds of images normalise the view of women as sex objects, and the fact that knives are included is very serious indeed. Combining implied violence with sexual imagery makes for very uncomfortable viewing. This can have a tremendously negative impact on young people and vulnerable adults and is not the sort of thing we should wish to propagate on national TV."

The organisation is now planning to lodge a formal complaint with TV watchdog Ofcom.

However, a spokeswoman for Elle Macpherson Intimates insisted the campaign was a tribute to film noir. "They aren't graphically violent, it's just a suggestion - you are actively invited to come to your own conclusion about what is going on." Curious viewers are also, it transpires, invited to log on to the campaign's website, www. intimates. tv, where the mystery is solved - with a film of two scantily-clad women fighting with knives.

The advertisements are shot by internationally renowned fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti, whose previous advertising campaigns include Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni and Yves Saint Laurent.

It is not the first time the supermodel turned underwear designer has prompted outrage with her promotional campaigns.

In March, an Intimates commercial featuring a model with her thumbs inside her underwear was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.

But it seems the mother of two is determined to push the boundaries yet further with her latest campaign.

In a statement, Macpherson, 40, said: "I love the cinematographic mystery of the photographs.

"We have taken the campaign one step further and played upon the word intimate once again. The imagery is beautifully haunting and ambiguous."