Pregnant Spears ad too "stimulating" for Tokyo metro

TOKYO, Aug 24 (Reuters) Tokyo's subway has refused permission for an advertising poster featuring a nude and heavily pregnant Britney Spears, branding it ''too stimulating'' for young people.

The picture of the pop singer -- nude but covering her breasts with her arms and crossing her legs at the knee -- appeared in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar and will be on the cover of the magazine's Japanese edition in October.

The publishers had hoped to display the cover photo for a week at a subway station in a trendy part of central Tokyo, but ran into resistance.

''We thought some of our customers would find it to be overly stimulating'', said a Tokyo Metro official.

Harper's Bazaar could not be reached for comment.

Not all was lost. The Metro and the publishers agreed to display the poster after all but masked the picture below the former teen idol's elbow with a statement reading: ''We apologise for hiding part of a beautiful image of a mother-to-be''.

REUTERS SSC BS0840