MILAN, Italy, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Milan's mayor has ordered that an advertisement showing a naked anorexic young woman be taken down from billboards controlled by the city, a city spokesman said Tuesday.

"The mayor has called for this campaign to be withdrawn from the city's network of advertising billboards," said a spokesman told AFP.

The adverts will nevertheless remain on privately owned billboards.

The controversial advert was shot by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani, the man behind hard-hitting and equally controversial campaigns by the Benetton group.

"What a shame that the city of Milan has a mayor like Moratti," said Toscani.

Milan is the second city in Italy to display the ads for Italian clothing firm "No-l-ita", which feature the slogan "No" to anorexia underneath.

The campaign against anorexia has stirred a fierce debate in Italy.

In France, the advertising self-regulatory body (BVP) strongly advised billboard owners against displaying the ads.