Viewers spitting chips at beaver

The most complained about TV ad in Australia last year has raised its furry head in New Zealand - and is already causing outrage.

The tampon ad, which features a woman and an animated beaver, has so far prompted 12 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority since it began screening last week.

Playing on the word beaver as a euphemism for a vagina, the ad follows a young woman and the beaver as they go to the beach, a hairdresser and a manicurist.

It culminates in the woman giving her furry friend a present, which the beaver unwraps to discover a box of tampons.

A voiceover says: "You've only got one, so for the ultimate care down there, make it U."

Hilary Souter, of the Advertising Standards Authority, said the board would decide this month whether to uphold the complaints.

When it screened in Australia it earned the dubious honour of being last year's most complained about ad, with 185 viewers taking their concerns to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

But it was not banned and in November the Sydney Morning Herald said the ad had driven up the Kotex share of the tampon market by two share points.

Julie McNae, spokeswoman for U by Kotex, said the company was not surprised there had been complaints.

McNae said that using a nickname made it easier for many young women to talk about their vaginas. The beaver was chosen because it was "catchy, visual and unique".

The ad had been rated GXC (general except children) so would run only at appropriate times - during school hours or after children's shows had finished.

"Of course we will monitor people's reaction," McNae said, "but we are convinced that this is a responsible and open way to communicate women's health issues to young women."

In Australia, the beaver is in a new Kotex ad - so Kiwi viewers may be in for more shocks.