Ranveer Singh’s new advertisement for a clothing line has stopped traffic online. The ad, which shows the actor dressed in office wear with a woman over his shoulder, watched by a grinning butler on the side, has been criticised as sexist and offensive. The tag line of the ad says, ‘Don’t Hold Back. Take Your Work Home.’ The ad, now pulled by the clothing brand, has been widely slammed on Twitter and earlier this week, Rang De Basanti actor Siddharth posted a strongly-worded tweet dismissing Ranveer’s ad as ‘a new low’ for women’s rights at the work place. “It wasn’t malicious,” Ranveer said in a session with Shekhar Gupta. Ranveer Singh, 31, and Siddharth are both trending on social media now.

“As a progressive brand that is loved by youth the world over, we take our responsibility of always being respectful, as seriously as we do our bold attitude. We regret that a billboard of our current campaign has caused people distress. We did not intend to offend anyone, and have discontinued it immediately,” Vineet Gautam, country head, Bestseller India which handles Jack and Jones sales told Mint.

Ranveer Singh, busy with Befikre promotions, spoke to Shekhar Gupta in an Off The Cuff session and said, “Jack and Jones ad wasn’t malicious but wasn’t going down well so got it taken down.”

The actor has been featured in controversial commercials before – last year, an advertisement for an innerwear brand showed the actor wrestling a rubber shark. After being red-flagged by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, the advertisement was run with a disclaimer. Ranveer’s ads for a noodle brand, which he promotes as ‘Ranveer Ching,’ has also been criticised by some as racist.