Adultery site barred from posting French president ads

PARIS (AFP) - French police Monday blocked a Canadian adultery website from posting spoof ads casting presidents Francois Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande as womanisers, the site said.

"What do all these men have in common? They should have thought of AshleyMadison.com," runs the strapline of the cheeky ad, which shows all four French heads of state, their faces plastered with lipstick kisses.

The dating website said it had tried to post giant banners guerilla-style at two Paris crossroads to mark the launch of its French site, after the ads were turned down by billboard groups as "too political".

But it was prevented from doing so by police, presumably tipped off by advance press coverage, said a statement from the firm, which resorted instead to hanging a three- by six-metre banner from the Bir-Hakeim bridge.