The Bristol Evening Post has been rapped over an ad for its Devil's Advocate column, which was printed on the back of beer mats.

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that wording on the back of one version of the devil-shaped mats was likely to cause offence.

The tongue-in-cheek column, which also appears on HoldtheFrontPage, is designed to put across opposing and unpopular views on topical issues, usually for the sake of argument, as a way of promoting discussion.

But the ASA received a complaint about the text on the back of some of the mats, which was taken from a column about the Iraq war.

The complainant said the words were "discriminatory, offensive and irresponsible".

The Evening Post denied the claim, and said the advertisement was neither discriminatory nor in breach of the ASA's Code, but the complaint was upheld.

Evening Post editor Mike Lowe said: "You'd think they'd have something better to do.

"High Street stores get away with nationwide advertising campaigns based on obscene slogans, yet the ASA's attention is focused on a beer mat in a Bristol pub.

"It's ridiculous."

The Evening Post had beer mats with 12 different designs produced last year to promote the column and sent them out to numerous pubs around the city.

They have proved so popular in some bars that they are regularly taken home as "souvenirs", but they could now become collectors' items after the ASA said the paper could not use them to promote its column any longer.

The text on the mat which sparked the complaint read: "I must take exception to New Labour's suggestion that the army must give disabled people equal opportunities. We've already diluted our fighting forces with women and poofs, but this is just getting silly. Taking on the Iraqi Irregulars was never going to be a barrel of laughs at the best of times, but it's hardly going to put the fear of God into them when rolling down the road to Basra comes the massed ranks of the Third Battalion, Her Majesty's Armoured Invalid Carriages, is it? THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE Every Wednesday in your EVENING POST."

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