Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI): Actor Ranveer Singh, whose new advertisement for a menswear brand has been slammed on social media, feels sorry for what has happened and said that he respects women a lot. In the latest advertisement of Jack and Jones, Ranveer, 31, is seen lifting a woman on his shoulders with the tagline 'Don't hold back. Take your work home.'

The advert was slammed by many for being sexist and for showing insensitivity towards sexual harassment of women at the workplace. "It was important to give the brand the creative freedom while designing the campaign but I guess we got it wrong on one of those billboards. I am sorry this happened but it is a thing of past. We rectified it immediately by having the hoarding taken down as early as possible from over 30 cities overnight," Ranveer said in a statement here.

"I treat all women with utmost respect both professionally and personally and would never do anything to disrespect them," he said. Earlier, actor Siddharth critised the advertisement in a tweet, saying, "A new low for women's rights in the workplace in India. What were they thinking? #Fail."

Actress Rupa Ganguly said that one should be a little careful while designing an advertisement. "Probably (the ad) meant something and may be understood by some people as something else. People sometimes don't get it properly and sometimes they get offended," she said.

While actors Alok Nath and Shakti Kapoor defended the advert as they felt it was done in good humour. "I mean come on, have a little funny bone in your body. It is just a little ad, why is everybody so stuck up about it unnecessarily... It is your interpretation that it is offending, you can interpret it in any which way," Nath said.

Kapoor added, "I have not seen the board (billboard) but then I feel there is nothing wrong in it... I don't think it is a big deal." On the work front, Ranveer is gearing up for the release of Aditya Chopra directed film "Befikre", which is slated to release on December 9. He also has Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Padmavati" in his kitty.