For the second time in a year, Auckland rock station Radio Hauraki has been told to remove an advertisement featuring host Matt Heath, because it could offend children.

The billboard on Fanshawe Street shows five of the station's hosts posing, including controversial Heath, with both middle fingers raised.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received several complaints about the billboard, one labelling it "offensive to say the least".

"Although it hasn't happened yet I imagine my children will have all sorts of questions about what the gesture means," the complainant said.

"I can stop them listening to the radio station, but can't stop them looking at the billboard."

In a majority decision, the ASA upheld the complaint, saying it was likely to cause serious offence.

The ASA found that although the gesture was "relatively innocuous" for the station's target audience, because the billboard was highly visible in a central city location to children and people who might be offended, the station was asked to remove it.

Radio Hauraki's owner, The Radio Network, said it regretted any offence caused by the billboard. "It was certainly not our intention to be distasteful."

"The intention behind the image was tongue-in-cheek, and Matt Heath, the host of the Drive show on Hauraki, is a light-hearted and cheerful individual, whose style and attitude is representative of a generation of people who have shrugged off what they deem to be old-fashioned reactions to relatively innocuous statements," The Radio Network said.

The billboard was due to be removed at the end of September regardless of the ruling.

Last year, Radio Hauraki was forced to remove a billboard featuring Heath which read: "My show starts at 4pm - long enough to get over any hangover."

The ASA appeal board upheld a complaint against the advertisements being displayed on billboards, also because children could see them, AAP said.

However, it ruled the ads could continue to be published in a newspaper because the readership consisted mainly of adults.

- Fairfax Media