Celebrity uber-babe Pamela Anderson has brought sexy selling to the mobile phone market.

Clearly enjoying her role as a scantily clad sex kitten, Anderson has stripped down to her saucy yet classy lingerie in a photo shoot which celebrates the launch of a new competition by mobile giant Nokia.

Resplendent in a range of dazzling underwear, the buxom actress who gained worldwide acclaim for her roles on Baywatch and in bed with former husband, rocker Tommy Lee, can be seen in varying stages of recline in a sumptuous hotel suite. Excitable readers will be overjoyed that one lucky winner will soon be joining her for a short film in the bedroom – all in good taste – called The Commuter.

Her competition-winning co-star will have Nokia to thank as the mobile phone company celebrates the soon-to-be-launched new N8 handset, which will capture all the action of Anderson, 43, and her companion. As if this wasn’t enough, the film will also have its own London premier alongside another similar feature that will star an additional lucky entrant in their own scene with Ed Westwick of Gossip Girl fame – although this one will be shot in an elevator.

Nokia said that they has tried to create something special with the new competition, one which it hopes will highlight the quality of the camera in the new N8 handset. Anderson is currently touring the UK as part of the promotion for her new role as the Genie at the Liverpool Empire Theatre’s production of Aladdin.

Leading UK retailer Marks & Spencer has lingerie to thank for much of its support if figures from the last financial year are anything to go by.

The iconic £16 frilled Ceriso bra has helped push up the profits of the high street giant, leading many to assert that this is not any old bra; it’s the one that made M&S a million. With over 100,000 of the Ceriso bras sold in 2009, the mathematics suggests that lingerie shoppers were purchasing the hugely popular item once every two and a half minutes throughout the entire year.

The secret to success could all be in the frills, as underwear manufacturers confirmed that practical bras were not nearly as in demand as those with a decorative purpose. Floral designs and chain-lace embroidery were the biggest hits for the year, not just with women but with husbands and boyfriends brave enough to shop for their significant other.

Sales of the Ceriso helped M&S to grow their full-year profits by 5 per cent to achieve a total of £632.5 million. The retailer continued its dominance of the British underwear market, selling around 25 per cent of all bras and pants in the UK last year. M&S also grew its female market share to 25.9 per cent, three times more than Primark, its nearest competitor.

 After a lean couple of years the financial bonus will be welcomed by all at M&S, which also increased sales in men’s underwear, despite a very public dressing down by Jeremy Paxman.

The British lingerie industry is experiencing a boom of sultry underwear sales to older women.

According to retail chain Debenhams, it’s all down to the cougars. With the term now common vernacular in everyday society, and the recent success of movies such as Cougar Town and Sex and the City 2, older women have become increasingly emboldened when it comes to their finery.

The TV show phenomenon and subsequent movie that features glamorous fourty-somethings being openly sexual, usually with considerably younger male partners, has been credited with the rising demand for slinky smalls from British women of the same age group.

Debenhams said that analysis of recent lingerie sales had shown that the seductive side of the fashion industry had been given a major boost by older women keen to mirror the bedroom antics of their on-screen role models. The new Cougar Town movie, featuring former Friends actress Courtney Cox, has also helped to reinforce the positive image of strong, sexual older women.

While in the past, thongs, cleavage enhancing bras and suspenders have been more the domain of twenty-somethings, older women were now rediscovering their fuller figures. Lingerie designers are lining up to satisfy the rapidly growing market, and have been keen to label 40 as the new 20.