Theresa May has said vans telling illegal immigrants to "go home" or face arrest will not be rolled out across the UK.
A trial of the controversial vans in London is still being evaluated.
But the home secretary told MPs she accepted they had "not been a good idea".
The campaign had resulted in the return of some illegal immigrants but it was too much of a "blunt instrument," she added.
The government pilot, which saw vans driving around parts of London for a week in July, drew criticism from across the political spectrum.
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable described the campaign as "stupid", and Labour accused the government of aping language used by the far-right National Front in the 1970s.
UKIP said the scheme was "disturbing" and reminiscent of a fascist dictatorship.
The vans were also criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority, which said the arrest statistics on them were misleading, although the watchdog cleared the campaign of being offensive and irresponsible.
During the campaign, the advertising vans drove around the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow - all ethnically diverse areas where it is thought a lot of illegal immigrants live and work.
The poster displayed a picture of handcuffs and read: "In the UK illegally?... GO HOME OR FACE ARREST."
'Hard-hitting'Home Office ministers insisted that the pilot had worked - and they were considering extending it to other parts of the country.
Speaking earlier this month, police minister Damian Green said the "hard-hitting" campaign had "let people know that 'the traditional view that if you have been here illegally nothing would happen to you' is not the case".
End Quote Home OfficeThe home secretary has seen an interim evaluation and has not been convinced by the results"
But Mrs May told MPs that ministers had "to step up to plate and say when something was not a good idea".
Speaking during a Commons debate on government's Immigration Bill, she said the campaign had led to some people voluntarily leaving the UK but the measure had been "too much of a blunt instrument".
The Lib Dems claim they were not consulted about the idea and would have opposed it had they known and party president Tim Farron has suggested they should take credit for not allowing it to go any further.
Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert said he was "very pleased" the idea was being axed, describing it as "deeply inappropriate".
FOI requestConservative MP Henry Smith told the BBC's Daily Politics it had been an idea "worth looking at" but it had been practically flawed and made "people less willing to report if they were in the country illegally rather than more willing".
And former Labour home secretary David Blunkett told the same programme the pilot had failed and the evidence showed it had made no difference to legitimate efforts to tackle illegal immigration.
A request by the BBC to see the Home Office's initial evaluation of the pilot has been turned down.
The BBC's home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani requested information about the response to the ad campaign, under Freedom of Information laws.
But he was told the details were intended for "future publication" and therefore were exempt from disclosure rules. It is not clear when the study will be published.
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