HILLOCK parishioners are up-in-arms over "offensive" language used in posters for the new Austin Powers movie.

Now members of St Andrew's Church on Ribble Drive have organised a petition against the billboards which boast the slogan "Austin Powers - The Spy who S****** Me".

They say that the advertising for the hit Mike Myers comedy is "deeply offensive" and have passed on a copy of the 31-name petition to Unsworth councillor Gordon Sharkey.

The Rev Keith Ashworth, vicar of St Andrew's, said the two people responsible for the petition, the church treasurer and another prominent church member, were on holiday.

He explained: "They asked permission to collect signatures in the church and I was ready to give them it.

"Quite a few people in the church and in the parish have said they find something disgusting about it and feel that it is a further step along the way to a moral morass."

He admitted that he personally had not seen the offending poster and added: "I don't really know anything about it but when one woman got up in church she wasn't prepared to say the word on the poster. "I always feel as a Christian that we should not become something negative and be seen by the public as negative as Christianity is very positive. However, there are areas where people feel there is an intrusion into morality and this is one of them."

Bury Council is powerless to remove the offending material as it does not own the land on which the posters are displayed.

Coun Sharkey has written to the Advertising Standards Authority after he received several complaints from local people, claiming that the poster advertising campaign was inappropriate and in bad taste.

He said: "I do not think they needed to call the film that, it is offensive. The word has a lot of connotations which is creating problems.

"I have had a lot of complaints, and not just from people in my own ward. I have passed the petition on to the Advertising Standards Authority.

"I raised the matter as I am chairman of governors of a primary school. We are trying to teach young people good behaviour and good language and then this happens.

"The advertising was only for one week in Bury and I think it will die down now. Hopefully, they will think in future before they do this kind of thing," he said.

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