Britain's Labour Party has launched an election campaign targeting women voters but its chosen vehicle, a bright pink bus, has backfired even before it hit the road.

The bus's color has drawn scorn and ridicule, with some calling it patronizing and sexist. Critics on Twitter compared it to a Barbie van or a bachelorette party limo.

The opposition party, which says it will highlight policies on issues such as childcare and domestic violence, hopes the bus will promote its "woman to woman" campaign and draw millions of women who didn't vote in the last election.

Reacting to the backlash Wednesday, Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman said the idea was to make the bus "look conspicuous," not patronizing. "Well it doesn't have big eyelashes on the front," she added.