Director Timur Bekmambetov of Kazakhstan poses next to a banner of his latest movie "Wanted" starring U.S. actress Angelina Jolie, British actor James McAvoy, and U.S. actor Morgan Freeman, during a photocall for its presentation to the press, in Rome, Wednesday, June 11, 2008. (Andrew Medichini/Associated Press)Britain's media watchdog has banned two posters of actress Angelie Jolie promoting the film Wanted after it received complaints that the thriller glamourized guns and violence.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 17 complaints from people who thought the advertising was irresponsible.
In one poster, the actress s pictured crouching and holding a gun upward while the other poster has her lying on her back, guns brandished, on the back of a car.
"We considered, that because the ads featured a glamorous actress, action poses, several images of or related to guns and aspirational text, they could be seen to glamorize the use of guns and violence," the ASA said in its ruling posted online.
The ASA also said the ads were inappropriate for children.
Universal Pictures said the style of the posters are a reflection of the film's origins — it's based on a comic book by Mark Miillar and J.G. Jones.
The Hollywood studio argued the posters were not put near schools, either.
The film, also starring Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy, was released in Britain and North America in June.
The plot centres on an office worker who discovers that his dead father was part of a secret society of assassins, and begins training as an assassin.
