MANILA (AFP) – Customs officials in the Philippines have seized inflatable sex dolls meant to be used for an international campaign against animal cruelty, an animal rights group said Thursday.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it had planned to use the sex toys as props in its Asian campaign against alleged abuses of chickens by a major US fast food chain.

The dolls were to have gone on a tour of red light districts in the Philippines, Thailand and Japan where they would be displayed with a banner reading “KFC Blows,” PETA said.

The dolls however were confiscated by customs officials here when they arrived in the Philippines through a US-based parcel service, it said.

Philippine representatives of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) as well as customs officials were not immediately available to comment.

Citing its own “undercover operations,” PETA said suppliers for KFC often abused chickens, including allegedly scalding them to death and cutting off their beaks while they are still conscious.

The US firm has dismissed the allegations in the past.

MADISON, Wis. – A man accused of stealing several blow-up dolls from an adult novelty store says the burglary was a “drunken, stupid thing.”

A criminal complaint filed in Dane County says Jose Sandoval, 26, of DeForest, smashed through the front door at Naughty Novelties in Burke last month and stole a talking love doll with a $270 price tag, along with other dolls and items.

Video surveillance tape gave investigators a look at the car outside the novelty shop, which they pulled over about ten days later.

The complaint says Sandoval denied committing the burglary, then began to cry and led detectives to an abandoned semi behind a motel where the stolen items were recovered.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – A man was arrested after a government agent allegedly found him in an office building restroom lying next to an inflatable, anatomically correct doll with his pants down. Craig S. McCullough, 47, was charged Wednesday with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor.

The criminal complaint against McCullough says he was discovered in the public restroom by an agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, which is one of the federal agencies that rents space in the Hach office building.

McCullough was arrested, and Cedar Rapids police took him to the Linn County jail. His arraignment was scheduled later Friday, police spokeswoman Cristy Hamblin said.

Another agency has an outstanding warrant against McCullough, but the reason for that warrant was not immediately clear, Hamblin said. He was still in jail Friday morning and it wasn’t clear if he had an attorney.

McCullough’s criminal record includes a 2004 conviction for burglarizing Just For Me bridal boutique. Shortly after the burglary, police officers found McCullough in a nearby alley, carrying a mannequin wearing a bridal dress.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico is deploying an army of inflatable sex dolls dressed as office executives in a head-turning publicity campaign against workplace harassment of women in the famously macho country.

Timed to coincide with International Women’s Day on Wednesday, the advertisements show sex dolls with staring eyes and gaping red mouths dressed in suits and sitting at computers.

“No woman should be treated like an object. Sexual harassment is degrading and it’s a crime,” says a voice-over at the end of a television ad, which shows a man walking past one of the dolls and casually stroking her shoulder.

Machismo runs deep in Mexico, where it is common for men to have mistresses. Some even set them up in a second home.

Women generally earn less than male colleagues and have fewer opportunities for promotion. Inappropriate behaviour towards women in work situations is also not unusual.

Mexico’s national institute for women said the ads — which will run on television, radio, print media and billboards from mid-March — were aimed at stirring up controversy and symbolised the use of women as sexual objects.

Mexican law is often not on the side of women.

The age of consent varies from state to state, but can be as young as 12. And with abortion frowned upon by the Catholic majority, numerous rape victims are pressured by courts and medical workers into having children they do not want.

Surveys show countless women are beaten at home.

The anti-harassment campaign comes on the heels of a campaign to combat violence against women, which showed prominent women photographed with bruised and cut faces.

Mexican President Vicente Fox has headed a series of campaigns against sexism and other discrimination in his five years in office.

However, he caused a stir earlier this year when he made a joking reference to women as “washing machines with two legs.”