A group of young British women say their spoof of a racy recruitment video for female scientists was "mainly for fun" but also made a serious point.

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"We made the video mainly for fun, but also because the original was so awful," said Suzi Gage, a PhD candidate in neuropsychology at the University of Bristol. "It was really demeaning to women, and contained no science at all -- just make-up."

The European Commission released the video this summer in an effort to attract more women into what The Daily Telegraph called the male-dominated science profession.

The commission's off-the-wall video included women in alluring makeup and high heels plus a male-model lab technician.

The ad was dismissed as offensive, but Gage and her colleague decided to respond in kind with a goofy production to the song "I'm Sexy and I Know It."

The video features party girls rocking out and otherwise bumbling around a laboratory but Gage told the newspaper the issues were serious.

"There are big problems regarding women in science," Gage said.