A comedian had to remove a picture of a hot dog from his posters after it breached TfL’s advertising policy on healthy foods.

The advert for Ed Gamble's stand-up tour, 'Hot Diggity Dog', was banned by Transport for London (TfL) for "promoting obesity".

The comedian is currently performing his highly anticipated tour, which includes five nights at London's Hackney Empire.

Despite almost £10,000 spent on the design and print of the original poster, organisers of the tour were instructed to modify in line with TfL's advertising policy that limits the promotion of high fat, salt, and sugar foods.

Mr Gamble responded to the ban with good humour - swapping the hot dog for a cucumber.

He told the MailOnline: "TfL have given me the opportunity to promote my favourite fast food snack - a whole cucumber."

He added on an Instagram post, which showed him taking a selfie with the new poster: "TfL told me I couldn’t have a hot dog on my poster to promote my @hackneyempire shows in June.

"I guess I’m dangerous?

"So I’ve replaced it with a cucumber.

"Eat your greens, kids!"

Previously, two West End plays had also to change their poster designs to fit TfL's advertising policy.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series: TfL said the hot dog in the original poster would have to be removed as it promotes obesityTfL said the hot dog in the original poster would have to be removed as it promotes obesity (Image: PA)

Last year, the poster for 'Tony n' Tina's Wedding' show, which showed the two main characters stood on top of a two-tiered wedding cake, was removed by TfL bosses because it "promoted the consumption of high fat, salt and sugar foods".

Despite an appeal, another £5,000 was spent on an ad campaign without the cake image.

Theatre producer Paul Gregg criticised TfL's decision as "ridiculous".

The advert for a WWII-inspired play was also banned for resembling graffiti.

Responding to the decision to remove Ed Gamble's poster, a TfL spokesperson said: "We welcome all advertising on our network that complies with our published guidance.

"Following a review of the advert, we advised that elements would need to be removed or obscured to ensure it complied with our policy.

"A revised advert is now running on the network and we are always happy to work with people to ensure adverts follow our policy."