Miranda Kerr’s management has hit back at Coles after copies of Harper’s Bazaar featuring the nude model were pulled from shelves after it was deemed “inappropriate”.

Kerr’s representative has questioned the motives of the supermarket’s censorship.

• Kerr goes nude for Harpers
• Fashion’s naked moment

 “There have been numerous examples of similar covers sold without restriction that celebrate and support women and this is no different,” Kerr’s manager Annie Kelly told Fairfax Media.

“They seem to have used it to get publicity during the busiest trading time of the year.”

Kerr is strategically positioned but totally nude on the December issues of Harpers, which briefly was sold at Coles until its removal was confirmed on Friday morning.

A Coles spokesperson told The New Daily the magazine had triggered complaints from Coles shoppers.

The 32-year old is not averse to nude photo shoots. Photo: Harpers Bazaar

“In response to feedback from our customers, many of whom shop with their children, we removed the magazine from sale earlier this week.”

The magazine’s editor, Kellie Hush, had previously told Fairfax the shoot had been “risky”, but had thought the pose met the strict nudity guidelines in Australia.

The glossy fashion mag is stocked in the aisles at Coles, rather than at the checkout with the less expensive magazines.

Kerr said she was comfortable stripping off for the photo shoot, although she wasn’t expecting it of the fashion magazine, which is aimed at women.

“The thing about nude photographs is that they can look iconic and tasteful, and they can be timeless because there is no fashion that ties them to a particular era,” she told Fairfax.

“But the funny thing about this shoot was that I didn’t know we were doing nudes – I thought we were doing a fashion story.

“We needed to get somebody in quick to give me a wax. I was not prepared at all.”

The controversial Harpers cover comes at a time when traditionally raunchy magazines such as FHM and Playboy are either going out of business or scaling back their nude photos.

January’s Playboy cover, featuring Pamela Anderson, is the last nude cover for the magazine, after its creative director announced the world of online pornography had made nude magazines redundant.