Six US ski resorts have banned their employees from using a new line of Burton snowboards whilst working, because the boards feature images which offend some people.

The Love and Primo boards depict Playboy models and graphics depicting self-harm and have already sparked demonstrations at Burton’s head quarters in Vermont.

The six resorts to ban the boards for their employees, as part of a wider restriction on the use of any similar “inappropriate” equipment or clothing, include Smugglers Notch in Vermont, which has been repeatedly voted the leading family ski destination in the US in Ski magazine reader polls, and Vail’s five resorts of Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Heavenly, Keystone and Vail itself.

Burton says the company is supporting freedom of artistic expression. The Love snowboard is described on burton.com thus:

Hi. My name is Love™ and I’m on the market for someone who’s looking to score serious action, no matter where they like to stick it. I enjoy laps through the park; long, hard grinds on my meaty Park Edges followed by a good, hot waxing. Whether you’re hitting it from the front or the back, my mid wide shape, supple flex, and twin tips like it kinky. Keegan and Mikkel love riding me, I hope you will too.