The Austrian army has withdrawn a recruitment advertisement, which featured attractive young women chasing after a tank, begging for a "joy ride", after women's groups said the video was offensive.
The video opens on a countryside scene, in which a macho-looking man offers four young women a spin in his sports car. The women seem ready to agree, but suddenly a tank comes to a screeching halt in front of the car.
A young soldier pops out of the top of the Leopard 2A4 tank, rubs his hand suggestively along the barrel of hte cannon, and calls: "Do you want a joy ride ladies?" The women quickly leave the would-be Romeo alone with his sports car and chase after the tank.
The Austrian army has seen a sharp fall in young men enlisting in recent years, and the video is clearly designed to appeal to a youthful population.
To that end, the pun in the young soldier's question was "fully intended", an army spokesman admitted. "Our clip is so dorky it's brilliant," said Col Johann Millonig, from the army's marketing department.
But the fine line between sexy and sexist was crossed, according to feminists, who heaped so much scorn on the Austrian high command that the advert was dropped.
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