Shenzhen ad agency gets flak for billboard with nude children

A Shenzhen advertising firm has come under fire for using the image of four naked boys on an eight-metre-high billboard dominating a busy highway on the border with Hong Kong.

The photograph, which is intended to market the billboard space and shows children playing in the grass on a sunny day, has generated fierce debate on the internet, where most commentators have decried it as inappropriate and offensive.

Since the advert first appeared late last month, tens of thousands of commuters passing between Lok Ma Chau and Huanggang in Shenzhen have probably seen it.

"It should be a private picture for a mother to keep at home as part of the family's memories," said Daisy Lee, a Tuen Men resident who has a six-year-old daughter and commutes between the two cities regularly.

"It is definitely pointless and inappropriate to post [that] in public, especially for commercial advertising."

Lanbite Advertising, which manages the billboard for the Shenzhen customs checkpoint authorities, defended the image as "very innocent and cute" and said the company was just trying to catch people's attention.