News from Europe:

The days of watching scantily clad models dancing on distant beaches to promote the latest perfume could be numbered.

Any ads that promote women as sex objects should be banned, acc­ording to an EU report.

And it is not just the eye candy for men that faces the chop.

Any kind of gender stereotyping – from the Oxo mother cooking in the kitchen to the Ronseal man creos­oting a fence – should also be cut out, it suggested.

They restrict ind­ividuals to roles that are 'often deg­rading, humiliating and dumbed down for both sexes,' said Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson.

The report could also bolster moves to ban the use of extremely thin women, who Ms Svensson said were poor role models for girls.

The report was written by the EU's Women's Rights Committee and adopted by the European Parliament on Wednesday.

The most sexist ads are aimed at women, not men.