American Apparel branded 'sexist' over 'degrading' ads for unisex shirt featuring half-naked women in g-strings but fully-clothed men Controversial campaign is for new plaid flannel shirt, $62 (£41) All women are posing provocatively in no underpants or g-strings Meanwhile all male models are fully-clothed and looking sombre Consumers have complained to advertising watchdogs and on Twitter Brand says images are 'artistic' Clothing giant American Apparel has been branded 'sexist' and 'sleazy' over a series of 'degrading' adverts for a unisex shirt. The online campaign features provocative images of half-naked women sporting the unbuttoned plaid top in a series of highly sexualised poses - often wearing no underpants or just a pair of tiny g-strings - while the male models involved in the campaign are fully-clothed and sombre. Consumers have attacked the American brand for its blatantly 'degrading' photographs, taking to Twitter as well as to advertising watchdogs to complain. The brand says the images are 'artistic'. 'Honkingly sexist': Tweeters and bloggers have criticised American Apparel's online campaign for the unisex plaid shirt, which features fully-clothed men but eroticised, half-naked women The contrasting images used to sell the plaid shirt to men and women have become an object of controversy on the internet Twitter users have slammed the campaign as 'honkingly sexist', 'degrading' and 'sleazy', while Swedish blogger Emelie Eriksson, 24, whose irate post about the brand's cloudy definition of the word 'unisex' has been read by over 100,000 people. 'It's terrible to see how they portray women in their advertisement, she told tabloid Aftonbladet. 'On the female model it's not about the shirt anymore, the picture is sexist and degrading to women. You wonder what they want to sell. Tweeters branded the campaign as 'sleazy' and 'honkingly sexist' The website features images of women barely wearing the 'unisex' shirt Indeed, Swedish consumers have become particularly incensed, with advertising ombudswoman Elizabeth Trotzig, who has the power to order the withdrawal of an advert, admitting to Raw Story that they have had five or six complaints. In several campaigns, later banned, models who looked younger than 16 years of age had their breasts, nipples and buttocks exposed American Apparel has frequently courted controversy in the past, being accused of female exploitation and sexualisation for using 'gratuitous' images of very scantily-clad young models to market their clothes. In several campaigns, later banned, models who looked younger than 16 years of age had their breasts, nipples and buttocks exposed. Their founder Dov Charney was sued for 'turning a teenage employee into a sex slave' in 2011, but the case was later thrown out of court. The brand seems to have one rule for advertising men's clothes, and another for advertising women's Some other female models wearing the shirt, some of whom aren't wearing any underpants at all A spokesman for the brand said: 'As a company, American Apparel is very sensitive to gender and sexual issues, just as we have been to issues like immigration and gay marriage. In this case, the actual product model photo for this unisex item is fully clothed for women, just as it is for men. Some bloggers have confused an artistic photoshoot which accompany the pages with a product shot Unfortunately, some bloggers have confused an artistic photoshoot which accompany the pages with a product shot and a controversy erupted as a result. American Apparel is well known for its provocative imagery, artistic photographs and its stance on free expression within the fashion industry. Our style deliberately eschews the photoshopped and impossibly unreal aesthetics of many of our competitors. 'We don't think there is anything in these photos out of synch with our standards and we think they portray the garments and the models in an attractive way and are not even the slightest discriminatory. 'Clearly we'd never seek to upset anyone and we're sorry to anyone who is upset.'