Parker billboard angers Israelis

“Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker’s fashion sense raised the ire of some Israelis who demanded that billboards featuring the actress in a skimpy dress be covered up.

Photos of Parker lying in a skin-revealing, spaghetti-strap gown were pasted on billboards across Israel promoting Lux soap. But ultra-Orthodox Jews took offense at the sight of her arms, back, shoulders and thigh.

One leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi contacted the distributor and warned that if the offending posters were not removed, the religious community would boycott the company’s extensive product line, the Haaretz daily reported.

Almost immediately, the Israeli branch of consumer product group Unilever removed the posters and replaced them with a more chaste version, with Parker wearing an uncharacteristically modest long-sleeve gown.

Downplaying the makeover, a marketing manager for Unilever said jokingly: “We decided to make her dress more suitable for the winter weather.”