Golden Wonder has hit back at complaints over its poster campaign for its Golden Skins.
The Advertising Standards Authority is investigating the adverts after receiving 12 complaints about the posters.
One depicts a young boy, naked from the waist up, tipping crisps into his mouth. Another shows a girl with a bag of crisps covering her breasts.
Complainants accused the adverts of sexualising children and encouraged paedophilia, said the ASA. Golden Wonder chief executive Ed Jackson said: “It really is a sad indictment on today’s politically correct society that there has been such an extreme reaction to a campaign for a crisp.
“We don’t regard the campaign as offensive in any way and are astonished that anyone could interpret it in such a manner.”
Jackson said that Golden Wonder would be putting a “very strong case” to the Authority to defend the rights of advertisers to communicate “high-impact” campaigns.