Anine Bing

The City of Birmingham in England banned a billboard of Danish supermodel Anine Bing. They must have thought the picture was too raunchy or that it would cause too many accidents for its world-weary citizens.

The city’s council ruled that a huge billboard of Anine, 5 feet 9 inches, and 34-24-35 on a tennis court and waiting for the rain to stop was too much for the English Midlands.

The billboards were part of a £1 million nationwide campaign in the UK for the Italian sportswear company Ellesse.

Executives at Ellesse, however, seemed to agree with Birmingham council. They said the advertising campaign - entitled 'For Play' - had caused mayhem on the streets across the UK as drivers slow down to take a closer look at the huge pictures of Anine.

Ruth Stevens, the marketing manager at Ellesse, said the campaign was in the same mould as Wonderbra's "Hello Boys" and the raunchy Haagen-Dazs ads.

Anine was amazed when she heard that her ad had been banned.

She said: “The ban is crazy. They are brilliant pictures.

“I always thought they were beautiful. I can’t understand the fuss about them being raunchy.

“I would never do anything tacky. Looking sexy and glamorous is much better.

“The people of Birmingham really don’t know what they are missing. The pictures look great, I’m very proud of them. Even my dad appreciates them. I’m just amazed the pictures have created such a response.”Anine has been called the new Helena Christensen after the supermodel from Denmark. Her twentieth birthday is on 30th November.

Anine enjoyed the shoot with Spaniard Pablo Riera-Sanz. She said: “I’m choosy about men. The guy in the advert was nice - but he was married."

This is the first big campaign for the teenager who had said she was too busy to find a boyfriend. However, she said that before she met Southampton and Sweden midfielder Anders Svensson who she says is her first boyfriend. Anine went to school both in her native Denmark and in Sweden. She enjoys the cinema, cosy dinners, kickboxing, hot weather and shopping. She has also worked on modelling campaigns for Coca-Cola and Ikea.

Warning: If you are from Birmingham you should not have read this far. In fact, you should go and make yourself a nice cup of cocoa and watch that video of Crossroads.

Anine and Anders have now split up. In 2004, Anine was dating a Swedish hockey player, Peter "Foppa" Forsberg. Reports said they met in Stockholm at the Theatre Cafe in July. Forsberd was there with Princess Victoria and her boyfriend when Anine came in later that night with some friends.

In 2004, reports also linked Anine Bing with American movie actor, Jim Carrey. The Danish tabloid, Ekstra Bladet, said they had met in a Hollywood party.

Anine said that Jim was "a great guy". She has also said that they are just friends and that Jim is "a real gentleman".