The Guardian has issued an apology after it was found to have displayed an ad that read ‘watch porn’ placed adjacent to an article about child abuse images.

The ad in question relates to watch brand Christopher Ward and makes use of the often-used term ‘watch porn’ to describe prestige luxury watches.

The newspaper has since apologised for “any offence” the incident may have caused, calling it an “oversight”. It has also called the advert’s placement “insensitively juxtaposed” and “inappropriate”.

“In the pre-printed Saturday magazine, an article has been insensitively juxtaposed with an advertisement from the watch company Christopher Ward. This placement was an oversight by The Guardian rather than anything intentional by the advertiser,” a Guardian statement read.

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“We have processes in place to prevent such inappropriate placing but, on this occasion, they were insufficient and will be reviewed. We apologise for any offence caused.”

According to Campaign, the watch brand’s media account has been run by Bath-based agency Mostly Media for the last decade – but its does not attribute “any blame” to them for the placement.

Christopher Ward CEO and co-founder, Mike France added: “Our ‘Watch porn’ ad, which we’ve been running for a year, is intended as light-hearted humour to promote the desirability of our watch. The issue here is the context, and we apologise that this particular placement may have caused offence.”