'Ride me all day for £3' bus ads with topless women will be removed after outrage

They wanted to make catching the bus "attractive to the younger generation."

But that mission, orchestrated by the New Adventure Travel Group in South Wales, seems to have backfired.

The company emblazoned the back of its buses with a large advert depicting men and women, who appear to be topless, holding signs that read: "Ride me all day for £3."

People were not amused.

"Shame on you," one Twitter use wrote. "Consider your arses reported," another posted in an Instagram caption.

Dear @NAT_Group #cardiff Why have you employed a hugely sexist ad that alludes to prostitution on your buses? Am sure you've a great reason.— Tights Won't Stay Up (@bloodytights) May 11, 2015

.@NAT_Group Seriously, who do you expect to travel on these buses? Are they a stag party express, no other passengers welcome? @WeAreCardiff— Jess Day (@day_jess) May 11, 2015

@NAT_Group bus in Cardiff is vile. Women face enough harassment on busses without use of sexually explicit language. pic.twitter.com/hxsM8AihIm— Xavier B (@Jxlb1) May 11, 2015

Beyond offensive. SHAME ON YOU. #BOYCOTT RT @NAT_Group: New X1 starts today! Ride our buses for only £3 a day! http://t.co/soWLczXlLH— Caroline Hirons (@CarolineHirons) May 11, 2015

I am disgusted! RG @carolinehirons: THIS is how the NAT (New Adventure Travel) Group @natgroup in Cardiff want to attract people to 'ride' their buses. I've blown the picture up so you can see their contact details. This is how women are perceived in 2015. Topless, offering £3 rides. My 13 year old daughter uses buses every single day to go to school. I'm not offended. I'm incensed. FUCK. YOU. New Adventure Travel. Consider your arses reported. Via @bigfashionista *They made a statement saying they will be removed within 24 hours. It wasn't an apology, more a 'ah shucks you guys just didn't get what we were trying to convey!' but still, taken down. #regramapp A photo posted by @linda.libra.loca on May 11, 2015 at 3:50am PDT

Singer Charlotte Church also got involved, tweeting an image of the ad and calling on her followers to complain as well.

Hey @NAT_Group THIS IS ABHORRENT! You should remove these hugely offensive ads ASAP pic.twitter.com/EphM8N8xyI” Please complain and retweet.— Charlotte Church (@charlottechurch) May 11, 2015

Local MPs also waded into the debate.

Just spoke to MD @NAT_Group to express disgust at adverts - he tells me it's a "misjudgement" + will scrap within the hour #everydaysexism— Stephen Doughty (@SDoughtyMP) May 11, 2015

The adverts also featured a topless man.

Don't worry men, your bodies aren't immune from the sexualisation of @NAT_group either! Terrible marketing. pic.twitter.com/24KHF6LcIz— Vicky Chandler (@VickyChandler) May 11, 2015

New Adventure Travel Group issued a statement on Monday, insisting that the advert was "tongue in cheek" and not meant to cause offense. They said the pictures will be removed within 24 hours.

Firstly we have stated that our objectives have been to make catching the bus attractive to the younger generation. We therefore developed an internal advertising campaign featuring males and females to hold boards to promote the cost of our daily tickets.

The slogan of ‘ride me all day for £3’ whilst being a little tongue in cheek was in no way intended to cause offence to either men or women and, if the advert has done so then we apologise unreservedly. There has certainly been no intention to objectify either men or women.

Given the volume of negativity received we have decided to remove the pictures from the back of the buses within the next twenty four hours.