UK watchdog snaps at gun-toting Angelina Jolie

NOT WANTED: Britain's media watchdog has banned two posters of Jolie promoting the film Wanted.

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London: Angelina Jolie might ooze Hollywood glamour but if she's armed and looking dangerous, then the actress is not welcome in Britain.

Britain's media watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has banned two posters of Jolie promoting the film Wanted after upholding complaints that the images of the gun-toting actress glamorised the use of guns and violence.

One poster showed the actress crouching and holding a gun pointing upwards while the other showed her lying on her back across a car's bonnet, brandishing guns.

The ASA said it had received 17 complaints from people who thought the ads were irresponsible because they glorified and glamorised gun crime at a time when there was increasing public concern in Britain about it.

Some also complained that the posters for the high-tech action thriller co-starring James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman were unsuitable to be seen by children.

"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 glamorise the use of guns and violence," the ASA said in an online ruling.

The film's maker Universal Pictures defended the posters, saying the style of the adverts reflected the film's comic book roots and provided examples of other ads they believed were more graphic and less stylised than their posters.

Universal Pictures also said that the posters were not placed near schools and appeared in the London Underground system which did not have a high proportion of children.

But the ASA ruling, handed down on Wednesday, seemed to come a bit late.

Universal, owned by General Electric Co, said the posters for the film released in Britain and the United States in June were no longer appearing and they had no plans for future use.