A series of website adverts by US clothing chain American Apparel has been banned by a UK watchdog for "gratuitous nudity".

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint that the adverts were "exploitative" and likely to cause "serious and widespread offence".

The adverts showed young women baring their buttocks and breasts.

American Apparel denied the claims, comparing the images to ones that friends share on social networks.

In its response, the firm said that "it was important to judge what was and was not offensive by reference to the current times and the views of the majority of decent and reasonable people, not a small and puritanically-minded minority".