A Gloucestershire hairdresser has been pressured into scrapping an advertising campaign which showed a glamorous model riding on a motorbike without protection.

Complaints were received by the Gloucestershire Echo and the Advertising Standards Agency after Blushes plastered billboards with the image of the woman being whisked away on the back of the bike without a helmet or leathers.

The hoarding, which appeared in several prominent places across Cheltenham and Gloucester, included the caption: "Some risks I take, but not with my hair!"

All of the offending posters have now been taken down, or will be imminently.

The image, which also appeared outside the window of Gloucestershire Road Safety's HQ in Shire Hall, has been branded "irresponsible" by the widow of a motorcyclist who was hit by a car.

The controversial advertisement

Kate Tucker, who lives in Wooton-under-Edge, got involved in the pressure group Roadpeace after her husband, Ken Delaney, died while riding from Cheltenham to Dursley in 2001.

She said: "It's certainly irresponsible to suggest that riding a motorbike without a helmet or proper gear is a risk worth taking, but we also have to give the consumer credit for being intelligent enough to realise that it's just an advertising stunt.

"All Blushes are trying to do is advertise their business in these difficult times. But let's hope they put a bit more thought into it in the future."

Riding a motorcycle without a helmet is illegal, and on hearing about the advertising campaign Gloucestershire County Council, forwarded the matter onto the police.

Keith Fagan, Gloucestershire Police's Inspector for Road Safety, said: "Only two per cent of road users are motorcyclists but they make up 21 per cent of those seriously injured or killed in road traffic collisions. It is of vital importance all motorcyclists wear the correct helmet."

The Echo reported last week how young people accounted for a third of all deaths on the county's roads.

Darrell Blake is co-owner of Blushes, which has branches in Montpellier Walk, Cheltenham, and Westgate Street, Gloucester.

He said: "It was a creative statement. We didn't intentionally go out to cause offence.

"The only posters that haven't been taken down yet are waiting to be taken down – but that's out of our control.

"It's a shame because the majority of people have been telling me how amazing the poster is.

"But I understand why some people have misinterpreted it.

"We were just trying to say there's always a risk when you go to another salon – but not when you come to ours."

A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Agency said yesterday: "We were made aware of the poster by a member of the public. We then reached an informal agreement with Blushes, who agreed to take them down."