A CONTROVERSIAL poster aimed at recruiting Colchester women into the Army during the Second World War has gone under the hammer.

The rare poster known as the Blonde Bombshell was designed by Abram Games.

Games was recruited in a bid to upgrade the “dowdy” image of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).

It was created in August 1941 and used across the country.

But it was withdrawn following a complaint in Parliament from the MP Thelma Cazalet-Keir who said the poster was too glamorous to be used to recruit women for the ATS.

The poster, which mentions the former Colchester Recruiting office in North Hill, has now been sold by Onslows Auctioneers in Dorset as part of its Summer Vintage Poster Auction. It was expected to fetch between £3,000 and £5,000.

After the poster was withdrawn Games went on to design two more posters for the ATS - one in April 1942 which was considered “too Soviet".