Sacre-licious: Ice cream ad featuring two priests kissing pulled after controversy

Following a whopping six complaints, an ice-cream company has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from using an ad which shows two priests about to kiss. This comes mere months after the same company had to pull an ad which featured a pregnant nun. The latest Antonio Federici ad features two priests in a suggestive and seductive pose (while sharing a carton of ice cream, of course). The accompanying text reads, "We believe in salivation." Mmm, sacre-licious. 

According to the ASA:

"We considered the portrayal of the two priests in a sexualized manner was likely to be interpreted as mocking the beliefs of Roman Catholics and was therefore likely to cause serious offense to some readers."

We're not sure how this is more offensive than, say, the actual gay-sex scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, many of which involve children, but hey, if you want to freak out over the portrayal of two consenting adults who are supposed to deny the existence of their genitals, that's your prerogative. 

The company, however, continues to defend their controversial — and frankly bizarre — ad campaign, claiming they never intended to mock the beliefs of Catholics and thought they were "reflect(ing) the grave troubles they considered affected the Catholic Church."  We're not sure how they'll top the latest ad, but at this rate we're pretty sure it will involve sexy papal shenanigans.