A sexually suggestive Calvin Klein poster inside a shopping mall in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, is the subject of controversy.

The sexually suggestive Clavin Klein poster.[Tom.com]

The large poster, featuring all foreign models, has been on display outside a Calvin Klein store in Zhengjia Plaza located in downtown Guangzhou, the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News reported Saturday.

It features an attractive female model with her breasts barely concealed and three men in various state of undress including two who are bare-chested.

The woman's head is resting on a man's lap while another is bending over her chest.

Many mall shoppers expressed discomfort at the ad that also triggered controversy in Australia.

"If the billboard was not erected in front of a jeans store, I would not connect the ad to jeans. I think the ad is just trying to catch eyeballs with something sensational," Zhou Liguo, 31, a civil servant in Guangzhou, told the Global Times by phone Sunday.

"As an adult, I feel embarrassed looking at the ad. The ad might teach children something really bad and lead to sex crimes among minors," Zhang Wenjuan of Guangzhou, mother of an 11-year-old boy, told the Global Times Sunday.

A store worker, who declined to reveal her name, told the Global Times Sunday that the poster was installed outside the store for nearly a month and they received many complaints from parents.

However, they need permission from the company to remove it.

A similar advertisement campaign was pulled from billboards in Australia after a local advertising watchdog received many complaints about it and complained the advertisement was suggestive of rape and violence, according to a report by Herald Sun, an Australia-based newspaper, in October.

Calvin Klein ads are no stranger to controversy especially for their racy content.

An official with the Guangdong Provincial Administration of Industry and Commerce, told the Yangcheng Evening News that the Advertising Law says that advertisements should not contain obscenity but the law does not provide specific obscenity standards.

The official said, however, that the poster violates traditional Chinese standards of morality and was unacceptable to the general public.

An unidentified official who handles customer complaints in the administration told the Global Times Sunday that they need to report the case to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce which would then decide if the advertisement is suggestive of sexual violence or gang rape as was the case overseas.