BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- An advertisement that depicts a woman carrying a goldfish in a water-filled condom has been pulled from television in communist Laos after authorities deemed it too explicit, a U.S.-based voluntary group that sells the condoms said Monday.

Population Services International produced the humorous ad to promote its "Number One" brand condom, which it sells at a subsidized price in Laos, a traditionally conservative Buddhist society.

The ad shows a woman using a water-filled condom to carry a goldfish after a plastic bag she had been using burst. A slogan on the screen says: "Number One can save your life."

Sythong Ouansengsy, marketing manager for PSI Laos, told The Associated Press by phone from the Laotian capital Vientiane that it had been aired on state television for the past year, sometimes two or three times a day.

But recently the Culture Ministry told PSI that the ad was too "sensitive because it showed a condom on TV," said Sythong.

The ministry said "boys and girls watch TV too ... during the daytime and it's not good," Sythong said.

But Culture Minister Kheckeo Soisaya told the AP the ad was pulled because it failed to show how condoms can prevent the spread of HIV.

"They put a goldfish in a condom and give the impression that condoms protect everything," said Kheckeo. "They (PSI) should produce an ad that shows how condoms can prevent AIDS."

He said the Laotian government still supported the work of PSI.

PSI has replaced the ad with a few older spots that only show the packaging and brand name, Sythong said.

According to U.N. statistics, Laos, a poor country of less than 6 million people, has been spared the AIDS epidemic that has ravaged neighboring Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

In 1999, it was estimated that less than 0.05 percent of adults had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The government has said the promotion of condoms may have helped prevent the virus spreading in Laos.

The communist regime that has ruled Laos since 1975 keeps a tight control on media.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.