NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - NEW Orleans tourism officials have canceled an advertisement that poked fun at the nationality of BP Plc, the company responsible for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, after receiving complaints it was 'anti-British.'

The print ad, a play on the city's history, was part of an effort to dispel perceptions the spill in the nearby Gulf has closed the 'Big Easy' and its famed restaurants and music to tourism.

'This isn't the first time New Orleans has survived the British,' it read alongside a photo of Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

The square is named for former President Andrew Jackson, who as a general led forces that defeated a British invasion during the War of 1812.

BP, whose well is spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico 61 days since it blew out, used to be called British Petroleum and is based in London.

Last week, Britain's Guardian newspaper ran a headline calling the campaign anti-British.