Claudine Esseiva, the 32-year-old head of the liberal FDP party’s women’s organization, agreed to pose naked under a banner reading “Nicht mehr oben ohne” (no more topless), a message that conveys the need for women to be represented at the highest levels of business and politics.

“With the picture and the sentence we bring the issue to a head,” Esseiva told the 20 Minuten newspaper.

The campaign, which includes the launch of a Facebook page and Twitter updates, will also reach movie screens across Switzerland next September, as well as electronic billboards at train stations and other public places, the organisation said in a statement.

“We have decided against using a model, because this would have seemed less believable,” Esseiva told the newspaper.

Since she is the only young woman on the organization’s board, she was quickly appointed for the task.

“Showing skin is generally not a problem for me,” says Esseiva, who adds that it is similar to wearing a bikini at the pool.

“Also, I can identify wholeheartedly with the point of the campaign,” she was quoted as saying.

However, not all communication experts agree the campaign will be beneficial to the  cause of women.

“This campaign will be exciting for 24 hours, then it will collapse,” campaign specialist and pollster Mark Balsiger told 20 Minuten, adding that the “pin-up” approach could also potentially damage the organization’s reputation.