A video for Converse footwear showing actress Millie Bobby Brown with her foot on a car dashboard has been cleared following complaints that it encouraged unsafe behaviour.

Three viewers of the YouTube video, seen in July, complained that the scene of the Stranger Things star with one foot resting on the dashboard of the moving vehicle condoned or encouraged unsafe behaviour that could be emulated by children and young people.

Converse said the ad attempted to tell the story of a young woman defying convention by wearing Chuck Taylor trainers on the red carpet of a movie premiere.

The company said that while the ad featured a child – Brown was 14 at the time of shooting the campaign – it was not targeted directly at children.

They said the actress had featured in a number of adult dramas and had a low profile among children, which reduced the likelihood that children who saw the ad would seek to copy her behaviour.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) accepted that the ad was not targeted at children and was likely to resonate with teenagers as well as adults.

The ASA said it could be dangerous for car passengers to place their feet on the dashboard of a moving vehicle, particularly as it could interfere with the proper operation of an air-bag in case of an emergency.

But it said the angle of the shot drew attention to Brown’s face and the story she was telling, and viewers would understand that her foot was raised in order to ensure the trainers featured prominently in the ad.

It said: “The way she was sitting was not otherwise relevant to the product being advertised or the story being told, and we considered viewers were therefore likely to pay little attention to the way she was sitting.

“For that reason, we concluded the ad did not condone or encourage an unsafe practice.”