Skechers footwear has yanked a controversial ad depicting Pop singer Christina Aguilera as a provocative nurse after a storm of protest from nurses around the country.

It's the latest success by the Center for Nursing Advocacy, a two-year-old nonprofit group in Baltimore that is trying to increase public understanding of the nursing profession.

"Nurses are realizing that our media image has a lot to do with the nursing shortage,'' said Sandy Summers, the center's executive director. "If we don't fix the media image, we can't fix the nursing shortage.''

The ad, one of three "naughty and nice" print ads showing Aguilera as a sexy policewoman, teacher and nurse, had the Pop Tart dressed in a low-cut nurse minidress, with garter belt, white stockings and what the center called "dominatrix" boots.

The shoe company, based in Manhattan Beach, Calif., said it discontinued the ad, which was going to run mostly in Canadian and international publications, after receiving more than 2,800 e-mails in protest.

"The Christina Aguilera advertisement was in no way meant to trivialize or marginalize the valuable services that the nursing profession contributes to our society,'' according to a Skechers statement.

"I'm glad to hear they've gotten the message,'' Summers said yesterday.