Would you 'feel special' if your fella bought you a clothesline for Christmas? Or would you find another use for it - like wrapping it around his neck perhaps?

A garden centre has caused controversy by publishing a gift brochure which suggests men make their wives "feel special this Christmas" by buying a rotary clothesline as a present.

The company, Hillier, delivered the four-page brochure to 900,000 homes and was swamped with complaints just hours later.

Margaret Green, from women's equality group WAITS, has called the ad an insult to women:

"This type of advertising is insulting to women and plays into old fashioned gender stereotypes that should have no place in modern society," she said.

"I feel for any man that follows the brochure's advice because I don't think a clothesline is going to make anyone feel special."Hillier's business development manager, Tim Mason, said he regretted that the brochure had been printed.

"We have had a lot of complaints from customers but many of them have contained an element of humour," he said. "I think most people were just checking that we intended it as a joke because, in hindsight, it is out of context and could be misinterpreted as derogatory to women.

"We were not intending to promote gender stereotypes but acknowledge that some people have taken it that way and for them it is a serious issue.... We regret printing the brochure in the form that it is in and accept it should not have gone out."

Do you think the line in the brochure was just meant as a joke? Are the complainers over-reacting or do they have a good point? Leave a comment...