Virgin ends ad campaign with b3ta over images of Richard Branson

Virgin has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn after a new viral advertising campaign backfired spectacularly.

The company had asked readers of b3ta.com, an online community known for bad taste jokes, to create a new advert for the Virgin Money brand. Hundreds of entries were submitted, but last week the company pulled the competition from the internet after concerns over some of the submissions.

Among the entries were doctored images of Virgin's founder, Richard Branson, in compromising situations. A spokesman for Virgin Money said the company had become concerned that some of the images were "a little bit illegal", and had decided to shut down the competition to prevent further transgressions.

But members of the site, which has a reputation for anarchic humour, are unrepentant. Rob Manuel, one of the site's founders, refused to comment when contacted. However, he told the site's subscribers that Virgin was warned to expect the worst. "I think the whole thing is funny," he wrote.

Talk about asking for trouble!