A STORM over sexy stewardesses has forced low-cost airline Jetstar to strip a plane's paint job that was to be part of a saucy deodorant advertising campaign.

Jetstar was to do a promotional deal with deodorant brand Lynx but the company has severed all ties with the brand after it became aware of the sexual content of the ads.

The ad, which debuted during Australia's World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, depicts busty air hostesses pampering male passengers.

The stewardesses provide massages, cuddles and hot tubs.

The slogan of the bogus airline is "Get on, get off" and an associated website [www.lynxjet.com] features profiles of "mostesses" such as Mimi and Bambi.

But the imagery has angered real-life flight attendants.

For the centrepiece of the campaign, Lynx planned to convert a Jetstar plane into a Lynxjet, complete with yellow paint job and logo.

The plane had already been decked out in the new livery when, after viewing the ads during the World Cup telecast, management realised what they were in for.

To make matters worse, the promos hit the airwaves while Jetstar was negotiating a new workplace agreement with its staff, leaving it exposed to industrial action.

The company immediately had the plane stripped of its new paintwork and returned to the Jetstar design, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars.

"Under no circumstances were we aware of the extent the marketing campaign was tipped towards the type of imagery they were promoting," Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said. "We carry a lot of families and the last thing we want to see is that kind of behaviour associated with our flights."

Mr Westaway said at no point were Jetstar hostesses asked to engage in behaviour depicted on the ads.

A spokesman for Unilever, which produces Lynx, said the company would press ahead with the campaign.

The spokesman defended the sexual nature of the ads.

"The whole campaign is about fantasy and the representation of the women is consistent with that," he said.

The Flight Attendants Association of Australia has expressed outrage at the promotion.