Sports manufacturer Adidas, who are one of the 2014 World Cup's main sponsors, has had to suspend the sale of World Cup T-shirts after Brazil's authorities complained they sexualised the country's image.

One of the shirts had "Looking to score?" imprinted on it next to a woman wearing just a bikini on a sunny Rio de Janeiro beach.

The other had an "I love Brazil" heart resembling the upside-down buttocks of a woman wearing a thong bikini bottom.

Brazil's tourism board Embratur said yesterday it is against any products that link Brazil's image to sex appeal and went public with their dissatisfaction on the style of the World Cup T-shirts.

Following the controversy, Adidas said yesterday it was withdrawing the clothing line.

A statement released just hours after the tourism board's criticsm said: "Adidas always pays close attention to the opinion of its consumers and partners and therefore it is announcing that these products will not be sold anymore."

The T-shirt designs caused outrage within Brazil's government, who are campaigning aggressively to shed the country's reputation as a destination for sex tourism.

Dilma Rousseff - Brazil's first female president - wants her government to crack down on sex tourism and the exploitation of children and adolescents during the competition, which is expected to draw 600,000 foreign fans.

"Brazil is happy to receive tourists for the World Cup, but it is also ready to combat sex tourism," she said on Twitter.

The ministry of women's affairs said the shirts were not just offensive to Brazilian women but exposed them to the "barbarism" of sexual predators.

"This is all the more shocking in a country like Brazil that just elected a women as its highest authority, which brought greater respect for women and zero tolerance for any form of violence against them," a ministry statement said.

Lewis Jones