Ben & Jerry's ice cream adverts removed after they were placed on billboards too close to primary school

Ben & Jerry's ice cream adverts have been removed after they were placed on billboards within 100m of a primary school.

Posters for the firm's Moophoria Light range - showing a tub of salted caramel brownie flavour and another of chocolate cookies and cream - were put up near two London schools.

Bosses at Children's Food Campaign complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), saying the ads were for a product which was high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) and were "directed at children".

The posters included photos of tubs of the ice cream - which contains just under 130 calories in an 100ml serving - along with the text 'New Moophoria Light never tasted so right'.

Chiefs at Unilever, which bought the brand in 2000, said the 'Ben and Jerry's audience' was 18-35 year olds and that it was its policy not to advertise to children - whether it be online, TV or in outdoor ads.

It said it was "disappointed" that the billboards had been "mistakenly placed near schools" and said they were removed immediately.

The ASA has told Unilever not to display the ads close to school again.

It stated: "HFSS product ads must not be directed at children through the selection of media or the context in which they appeared, and that no medium should be used to advertise HFSS products if more than 25 per cent of its audience was under the age of 16.

"The ads were for Ben & Jerrys Light ice cream variants, which were HFSS products, and the ads were therefore HFSS product ads for the purposes of the Code.

"The ads were located within 100 metres of schools.

"We considered that the proximity of the posters to the schools was likely to mean that the audience of the ads were significantly skewed towards under-16s and because of that they were directed at children through the context in which they appeared.

"We therefore concluded that the placement of both ads breached the Code."