It was hard to go past the way the Australian media pounced on Tony Abbot’s comments about the ‘gift’ of virginity for this week’s Wankley (but we did).

Also high on the nominations list was the entire world of technology, journalism and entertainment media for the virtual mouth frothing and speculation that occurred over Apple’s latest toy, even before anyone knew very much about the thing.

But the Wankley this week goes to the Herald Sun and the Adelaide Advertiser for joining the international media in dishing out some free publicity to UK web designer Blighty Arts for its online tween avatar game My Minx.

The game, which reportedly allows young girls to “become raunchy virtual characters wearing lingerie, taking the pill, and buying Third World orphans” was diligently critiqued by “horrified children’s groups” such as the Australian Childhood Foundation and Kids Free 2B Kids. Fair enough, you might say.

But what the Herald Sun’s article failed to mention is that the creator of Blighty Arts, Chris Evans was also the co-founder of Blouzar, another web design company which developed a very similar website to My Minx back in 2007 called Miss Bimbo.

Unsurprisingly, this gem of a site also generated significant controversy when it launched in 2007 (see also here and here) which has no doubt contributed to their success in nabbing over two million members.

What might also have been worth pointing out is commercial element  of the site which entails getting the ‘Minxes’ to buy clothes and other accessories from their ‘boutique’ range.

Crikey is aware of the irony of awarding Wankleys for a successful promotion-through-controversy campaign, but we thought this Minx hi jinx definitely deserved a spot on the podium.