A TV ad for Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console has been banned for glamourising street car racing and condoning dangerous driving.

Created by agency McCann Erickson, the ad featured a stunt scene in which a balaclava-wearing man was chased by two others, followed by a high speed car chase.

The car chase took place in a busy city centre with the cars weaving in and out of traffic.

At the end of the chase the car rolls, two other cars turn up, the drivers swap balaclavas and badges and the chase resumes.

Text at the bottom of the ad stated "Professional drivers. Closed course."

A complainant to the Advertising Standards Authority believed the ad was irresponsible because it glamourised street car racing and might encourage viewers, young men in particular, to drive dangerously.

McCann Erickson, responding on behalf of Microsoft Xbox, said that during development of the ad it had sought clearance - from the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre - both before shooting and in the editing phase to "avoid any possible misconception".

The agency argued that the ad was "in line with [our] own corporate social responsibility guidelines".

The scenario, said the agency, was meant to be an analogy for computer gaming - one of friends getting together, not fast car driving.

The ad was already running with a post-9pm restriction to keep it away from "impressionable younger viewers".

The ASA noted that the text in the ad warned that the events featured were "staged and performed by professional drivers in a controlled environment and warned viewers not to attempt to copy actions shown".

However, the watchdog considered that the text reinforced the sense that the events in the ad were "real, rather than fantasy, and were therefore capable of being copied".

The ASA was concerned that the ad gave the impression that "reckless street car racing was exciting and fun".

It ruled that the ad must not be broadcast again.

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