The mostly outdoor-oriented campaign - featuring well-toned men in tiny briefs with the line 'Makes a big impression' - had apparently angered residents in a conservative part of Mumbai who complained to the local police station.
At the time of the campaign's launch, Anthony Fernandes, marketing manager of Maxwell Industries, which manufactures VIP underwear, said: "I don't think it's that provocative. The youth will empathise with it."
The crackdown has taken the industry by surprise. Piyush Pandey, chairman and national creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, the agency behind the campaign, said he was surprised that there was no written complaint by any of the concerned citizens.
It appears that a policeman at the station filed the complaint on the citizens' behalf and had the hoardings removed. "They pulled it off on their own and gave no notice," he said.
The complaints were directed at Maxwell Industries and the outdoor vendor, and not at Ogilvy.
Pandey appeared puzzled by the timing of the complaint: "The hoardings were up for two months and the same visuals have been released in several papers. I'm surprised when there are 50 other ads of people wearing underwear running everywhere, why was this singled out? I can't actually show a man wearing a tie."
While ties may be out, towels are not and the revised hoardings feature the same models in similar poses, but sporting VIP's vests and slightly more clothing. In fact, the new ads appear to revel in the crackdown, with the new tagline proclaiming, 'Now making an even bigger impression'.
While the controversy has given Frenchie X a lot of publicity it remains to be seen if this will translate into sales for the line.