Poster adverts for crisps have been criticised by the advertising watchdog, for making jokey references to drug dealing.

The adverts for Golden Wonder used references to adult crisp eaters as "smuggler", "user" and "dealer".

They fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it received complaints from the public, calling the ads "tasteless and irresponsible" because they could be viewed by children.

The ASA said Golden Wonder "trivialised" drug problems

Golden Wonder insist the adverts - part of campaign using the slogan Got Any Golden Wonder Mate? were meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

The company said the idea was not to refer to illegal drug dealing but more of a reference to the fact that their crisps are harder to find than they used to be in the shops.

But the ASA found that "to link the illegal drugs culture with crisps irresponsibly trivialised a serious social problem."

Innocent?

It told Golden Wonder to stop using the wording in future and criticised the company for ignoring advice from an industry body not to run the adverts.

In defence, Golden Wonder said it had ignored guidance from the Committee of Advertising Practice because it had "received positive consumer feedback".

In the first advert, headlined "Smuggler", an overweight woman can be seen pushing a trolley load of crisps, with the message "Not as innocent as she looks, eh?"

Another, called "User", showed a woman with crisps in her bicycle basket under the caption: "This mother of two has a 34.5g a day Golden Wonder habit."

The final one called "Dealer" pictured a man on a pavement sign with the message: "This shopkeeper sells Golden Wonder to your children in broad daylight".

The crisp company claimed the adverts "created the premise that the product was so rare that a black market had been created and consumers were driven to buying and selling the product on the streets".

It said the target audience for the crisps was the 18-34-year-old age group.