PEPSICO has withdrawn an advertisement featuring David Beckham on a surfboard out of respect for victims of the tsunami in South East Asia.

The US soft drink giant joins other leading brands, including Marmite and British Airways, that have put advertising on hold for fear of being labelled insensitive.

BA has cancelled its World Offers campaign featuring flights to beach locations in Asia. The television and print campaign was to have been launched on December 30. A spokeswoman said that BA would “keep under review” a decision on when to resume advertising.

Unilever, the maker of Marmite, has ordered the withdrawal of advertisements for the yeast spread on London buses. The adverts, which feature people fleeing a huge blob of Marmite, complemented a television campaign as part of Marmite’s main winter promotion.

The TV campaign was virtually finished when the tsunami struck last month, but the campaign on London buses was to have continued into the new year.

A spokeswoman for Unilever said that the advertisements on buses would be withdrawn this week.

The Beckham advertisement was a main component of PepsiCo’s campaign for this year. The advert was to have featured the footballer alongside other famous players such as Thierry Henry, the Arsenal forward, and Ronaldinho, the Brazil international.

In a statement, PepsiCo said: “In light of the recent tragedy in Asia, we at PepsiCo International have taken the decision to put our 2005 surf-themed football campaign on hold for the foreseeable future.

“PepsiCo International and the PepsiCo Foundation are donating $1 million (£531,000) towards relief and recovery efforts and making product donations on a local level ... where fresh water is in critical demand.”

American Express, the credit card provider, has decided to withdraw TV and cinema advertisements featuring Laird Hamilton, a surfer, talking about the thrill of riding powerful waves.

However, SEAT, the Spanish carmaker owned by Volkswagen, is making no change to its Toledo model’s TV advertisement campaign featuring a sumo wrestler surfing.

Meanwhile, the BBC has scrapped the proposed winter screening of Supervolcano, a £2.8 million docu-drama about a volcanic eruption, amid concerns that the scenes of death and destruction could offend viewers.

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