A promotional campaign for a violent computer game must never be shown again, after the advertising watchdog decided to uphold complaints from worried parents.

Advertisements for Kane & Lynch were accompanied by the claim that the game is “grittier and nastier . . . than anything you’ve seen before, the violence . . . visceral, brutal and very, very real”. The ruling yesterday by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) comes after the report last month by Tanya Byron, the psychologist and television parenting guru, who proposed cigarette-style health warnings on video games to protect children from unsuitable material.

Kane & Lynch is made by Eidos, the producer of the successful Tomb Raider series, and carries an 18-rating. Posters for the game depicted a gagged woman in tears. A scarred man wearing surgical gloves pulled her head back by her hair while a second man behind them held his finger on the trigger of a rifle.

Those who complained to the ASA said they found the graphic depiction of violence towards women in the advertisements, seen on posters, on television and in magazines, distressing. They complained that the ads condoned violence towards women and would have been seen by children.

The game, which was released last year, follows two mercenaries on a mission to recapture a kidnapped family. The television adverts depicted a man having his throat cut.

The ASA ruling follows last month’s court decision to allow the sale of the game Manhunt 2, after a nine-month battle by its producers against a ban by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for gratuitous violence and “sustained and cumulative casual sadism”.

After yesterday’s ruling, Eidos said it had not wanted to offend anyone.

The firm said it had dropped the posters as soon as complaints were received and that the advertisements were only placed in adult male life-style magazines and specialist publications. Both Five and Channel 4, which screened the adverts, apologised for any offence caused.

Julian Brazier, the Conservative MP for Canterbury, said: “This is one more example of the ASA showing leadership and cracking down on the glamorising of violence when the BBFC is dragging its feet and the Video Appeals Committee has failed completely.”

The ASA ruled that the poster and magazine ads breached decency and responsible advertising codes while the TV ad broke guidelines on harm, offence, violence and cruelty.

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