Film studio 20th Century Fox has been forced to apologise after putting up billboards showing a male X-Men villain strangling a female character.
Critics said the billboard, which showed Oscar Isaac's character Apocalypse holding Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique in a chokehold, promoted violence against women.
"In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse, we didn't immediately recognise the upsetting connotation of this image in print form," Fox said in a statement.
"Once we realised how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologise for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
The billboard was promoting X-Men: Apocalypse, the ninth film in the X-Men franchise, which was released in the United States and New Zealand last month.
Among those criticising the image was actress Rose McGowan, who said 20th Century Fox was promoting "casual violence against women", and that it was a "major problem" that the studio thought it was a good way to market a film.
"There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled," she told The Hollywood Reporter via Facebook.
"The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous."
The studio said all billboards with the image have now been taken down.
Newshub.