Australia's advertising regulator has ruled against a Big W commercial showing a brief pixelated photo of a young girl sticking up her finger at the camera.

The offending image, part of an ad depicting a mother coping with rowdy children during school holidays, was found to have breached Ad Standards' code of ethics.

It triggered complaints when a child lying on a lounge stuck up the middle finger to the camera, with the industry regulator finding it was "inappropriate nonverbal language by a child".

The advertisement appeared on free-to-air, streaming and subscription television and also YouTube.

Big W, part of Woolworths Group, defended the ad, saying it set out to be "humorous and cheeky".

"The gesture shown is fleeting, is not done in an aggressive manner or in a way that undermi

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