The Brazilian government faced widespread criticism after posters for the International Day of Prostitutes appeared on the health ministry’s website earlier this week.

The campaign’s ads, one of which reads “I’m happy being a prostitute,” aimed to simultaneously promote awareness of STDs while reducing the stigma against sex workers, according to a CNN report.

“I do not think this is a message the ministry should be sending,” Health Minister Alexandre Padilha told the press on Tuesday, and denied endorsing the campaign. He claimed that the posters were not intended for publication online.

The campaign has been described as part of a larger effort to prepare Brazil’s legal prostitutes for the expected increase in “sex tourism” during next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, both to be held in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to educating sex workers on safe sexual practices, free English classes are being offered in certain regions of the country in order to help prostitutes communicate with foreign clients.

The “happy prostitute” campaign has since been given a new, less controversial tag-line that promotes the use of condoms. Authorities have reportedly “vowed” to address the problem of the increasing number of young people in the country turning to prostitution to make a living.