All England Club forced to apologise for using iconic 'bare-bottom girl' poster for promotion

The All England Tennis Club were forced to apologise for the 'offense' caused by their cheeky Tennis Girl poster, which displayed an iconic bare-bottomed photo of a woman player for a promotion for their Powerful Posters exhibition.

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The Wimbledon tennis officials had used a 1970s shot featuring blond model Fiona Butler lifting her tennis skirt, which sold over two million copies worldwide. It was shot by photographer Martin Elliott in 1976 at the University of Birmingham's tennis courts and printed by Athena.

But the All England Lawn Tennis Club was slammed for using the cheeky photograph on the official Wimbledon Twitter account to promote a looming exhibition, Stuff.co.nz reported.

They withdrew the tweet, saying that they apologise for offence caused by the Athena Tennis Girl poster, adding that it is a controversial piece of poster history but they do not endorse it.

However, the poster clearly has a place in history. Last year the dress worn by Butler, the wooden tennis racquet she held, a 1979 edition poster and a 1980s limited edition canvas print were reportedly sold at auction for 31,000 dollars.

However, some tennis fans felt the famous club had gone too far, believing it was sexist, with a fan expressing her outrage on Twitter, saying that she can't believe Wimbledon used that picture for their upcoming 'Powerful Poster Exhibition'.

Roger Federer's fans who go by the name 'Fed's Angels' on Twitter, also declared that they thought Wimbledon were the classy slam.

An All England Club spokesman confirmed that the poster would remain in the exhibition despite the apology. He said that they are aware that the poster has generated debate on social media and they decided to respond to some of the comments raised since they want to be clear that it is not a reflection of how the view women in tennis.

However, the spokesman said that not to include the iconic poster in the exhibition would perhaps be an oversight since it is the most famous tennis poster of all time and should be regarded in this context only.