A COMPANY which makes erotic cartoons for mobile phones has been hired by Blackburn with Darwen Council to create a non-pornographic cyberspace star for its website.

The move has been condemned by domestic violence campaigners who said the council shouldn't be supporting companies which profit from 'porn'.

Councillors have rounded on the project, calling it "a crazy waste of money" while Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Kate Hollern thanked the Evening Telegraph for bringing it to her attention.

Glasgow-based DA Group has a £2,000 signed deal with the council to create Yasmin, an interactive cartoon mascot which will appear on their website and show people how to use it.

DA Group is the company behind a project called 'Fantasy Babes' which allows men to download a cartoon woman to their mobile phone, then change her appearance.

According to the company's website, she then 'entertains through a selection of erotic tales and naughty picture stories'.

The service was widely advertised on adult pay-per-view satellite channels when it launched.

The company is also responsible for 3D cartoon mascots used on international TV channel BBC Prime and the world's first 'virtual' newscaster, Ananova.

Earlier this year, it launched the first ever cartoon caricature of a porn star -- US porn star Ron Jeremy, who has starred in 1,600 adult films.

A spokesman for Woman's Aid, which runs the Wish Centre in Blackburn and provides help for victims of domestic violence, said: "Big companies and councils have a social responsibility to set an example and not deal with companies which promote things like Fantasy Babes.

"Such porn leads to the abuse of women because it involves treating women like objects, and removes the fact they are human.

"It creates the wrong impression of control for some men and one thing leads to another.

"The council shouldn't be working with a company which promotes this sort of thing."

Council leader Kate Hollern said: "I'm grateful to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for bringing this to my attention.

"We do need to look into it, not least to see if spending money on this cartoon character for the website is actually value for money."

Coun Frank Connor, in charge of consumer rights at the council, said the council had only engaged in a pilot project with DA and would be reviewing its position as to whether it should go ahead with the initiative.

Tory leader Colin Rigby said: "These projects belong in the realms of fantasy and should never become reality.

"It's a crazy waste of money and the officers behind it must have too much times on their hands.

"I object to the council using a company which makes adult entertainment when we spend so much money preventing staff from accessing such things on computers at work.

"Surely we have people in our own IT department who could do this in house."

A spokesman for DA said: "We are not aware of any review by the council.

"Fantasy Babe is a small part of what we do, and we just see it as harmless fun."