Heath LedgerA New Zealand pizza chain has been forced to pull a new advert depicting the late Heath Ledger as a dancing corpse.

The advert, for Kiwi restaurant chain Hell Pizza, also featured the late Queen Mother and Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary emerging from graves to the strains of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

According to a spokesperson for the company, the animated promotion was supposed to be "a light-hearted remembrance" of the trio.

Peter Hillary, son of Edmund, told Kiwi paper The Dominion Post; "I think it's a bit disturbing. A little grotesque."

"I don't think it's funny and I'm not very impressed. It is early days and it's still pretty raw," he said of the death of his father. Edmund Hillary conquered Everest in 1953, and died last year.

It's not the first time Hell Pizza have got themselves into trouble. In 2007 a promotion involving Adolf Hitler clutching a slice of pizza in a Nazi salute was widely derided, while in 2006 they managed to offend Catholics the world over by delivering condoms to their customers as part of the promotion for their 'Lust' pizza.