Barnardo's has been forced to withdraw a series of advertisements that included a baby with a cockroach crawling out of its mouth after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled they were "likely to cause serious or widespread offence".

The adverts, which appeared in national newspapers, were part of the children's charity's campaign to end child poverty. But the ASA launched an inquiry after receiving 450 complaints that they were offensive and unduly distressing.

Barnardo's had defended its campaign by likening it to those for road-safety and anti-smoking campaigns, which it said caused distress with good reason, but the advertising watchdog rejected its justification.

The campaign was prompted by an NOP survey that found 86 per cent of the public questioned were unaware that child poverty existed in the UK.

Director of marketing and communications Andrew Nebel said: "We hoped the readers of the advertisements would be able to look beyond the challenging images and realise that the real issue is the shocking fact that the UK has some of the worst child poverty of all developed nations."