Wellington  - A Wellington sex shop has upset the Catholic Church with a billboard advertisement showing a praying woman with a smile on her face, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The D. Vice store's ad shows four parishioners in a church and three of them have their eyes closed and hands clasped. But the fourth, a woman, is smiling and below her is a tagline describing a sexual aid and its price, the Dominion Post reported.

Wellington's Catholic Archbishop John Dew told the paper it was "unnecessary and distasteful" to associate a church with a sex shop device, adding, "It is an insult to anyone who recognises a church as a sacred gathering place for believers in God and a place of prayer."

Wendy Lee, a director of D. Vice, said the billboard was meant to make people laugh and not intended to offend, while marketing spokesman Rene Bros said the campaign showed people thinking about sex while doing everyday tasks such as ironing, going to the bank or attending church. (dpa)