THERE is an old adage.....There's no such thing as bad publicity.

How true, when it come to the latest outrage over the Pot Noodle poster sited close to Elgar Technology College.

The offending poster was defaced over the weekend following severe criticism reported in this paper, from college headmaster Graham Watts.

The poster uses an illustration of the product accompanied by the phrase "Hurt me you slag".

No doubt, members of the community took the same view as the headmaster, but took more direct action.

But does not this controversy just play into the ad agency's hands?

A swift look to some other recent campaigns may give a clue.

Remember the massive row over the Benetton ads. Until the controversy some had never heard of the shop and brand.

Recall the Opium perfume advertisement, showing a naked model in apparent ecstasy.

Think back to the First Sport chain's poster with a busty model with two black eyes. That was for a sports bra!

Last month the lingerie manufacturer Gossard launched a campaign by having its model knocked down by a bus, before discovering that her underwear was not co-ordinated!

And only last week, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints about an poster for Shark energy drink - showing a naked, bruised woman.

What these campaigns have in common is the obvious intention to use sex and shock tactics to gain publicity and focus attention on their product. After all, that is the whole purpose of advertising.

Unfortunately, the ad agencies that handle these accounts appear to have abandoned the common decency guidelines that used to apply and "anything goes" is their new buzz phrase.

Which brings us neatly back to the Blackpole poster.

But what it is doing is giving publicity to a product that is not a "must-have" for many households.

It is a sad fact of life that despite the disgust and outrage at the "slag" poster, they will probably sell more Pot Noodles.