Sony took a cheeky swipe at France's disastrous World Cup team Wednesday with a full-page newspaper ad for Playstation showing a cock with its head blown off above the words "Game Over."

The video game console ad did not make specificreference to the team, but the cock is a clear reference to an unofficial symbol of France which features on French footballers' jerseys.

The headless bird was a photo-montage and "no animal was killed," noted the small print at the bottom of the ad on the back page of Liberation newspaper. Sony was not immediately available for comment on the ad.

L'Equipe sports newspaper said last week that for failing to dump the national squad's coach Raymond Domenech, the French football badge should "no longer be the cock but the headless chicken."

The players were due to fly back to a humiliated country that has largely written them off as spoiled millionaires led by an incompetent coach and unworthy of the blue jersey worn by the 1998 world champions.

(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

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(Agencies)