Kim Cattrall knows a thing about sex in cities--but it's sex in car ads that kicking up some controversy south of the equator.
Nissan has yanked a bawdy new TV commercial featuring the former Sex in the City player from New Zealand airwaves following numerous complaints from viewers who felt the spot's naughty humor was inappropriate and over the top.
In the promo for the Japanese automaker's new compact Tiida, the 49-year-old Cattrall plays off her role as sex-crazed publicist Samantha Jones on the hit HBO series.
As music reminiscent of the Sex and the City theme plays, Cattrall hops into the car and lets loose with a series of titillating oohs and ahhs as she drives along, at one point purring, "More...more...more" and "Why didn't you tell me it was so big? I just wasn't prepared for it."
The ad, um, climaxes with with a shot of a sign reading "Hump," and as the car goes over the road bump, Cattrall lets loose one final scream, punctuated by a voicover: "The all-new Nissan Tilda makes you feel really, really, really good inside."
The double entendres didn't stop there. The spot ends with Cattall telling a car salesman, "Ah! That was amazing. Absolutely fabulous! I mean the great body and the way you moved it." (A shorter version of the commercial is viewable online at YouTube.com.)
Despite the fact that New Zealand's typically liberal Television Commercial Approvals Bureau signed off on the spot before it aired, the commercial unexpectedly prompted protests to the Advertising Standards Complaints Board.
Before the board could look into the complaints, however, Nissan opted to pull the plug to avoid a PR-headache.
"We made this decision in the interest of self-regulation and in response to public feedback," the company said in a statement.
But that doesn't mean Cattrall's salacious act doesn't play at all Down Under--the same commercial that got New Zealanders' knackers all in a knot has been airing in neighboring Australia since February without so much as a peep of controversy.
When not orgasming over Nissans, Cattrall has kept busy since the end of Sex and the City in 2004 revamping it on the London stage.
After making her West End debut last year to major accolades in Whose Life is It Anyway, Cattrall has signed on to headline an upcoming revival of David Mamet's family drama The Cryptogram. The show officially opens Oct. 12.
Cattrall, who celebrates her 50th birthday in exactly one month, recently finished shooting the mystery thriller Tiger Tale for British director John Boorman.