A Sydney advertising agency has been forced to apologise after a job applicant claimed she was told she was 'too brown' to be hired. 

Surungi Emily Hohol, a Sri Lankan Australian, said she was 'livid' at the 'injustice of racism' following a job interview with creative advertising company Banjo.

'I had an interview at a creative ad agency in Sydney and was told that due to being brown and Indian (though I'm Sri Lankan) and have lived in Australia for 27 years, I wouldn't be suitable for the role as they already had two other Indian people,' she posted on Facebook. 

Hohol said she was told the agency's clients 'might be alarmed by having three brown skin people attend a meeting'.

'Seriously, what is wrong with people,' she said.

Ms Hohol received messages of support on social media.

'Ignorance and stupidity is what's wrong with them. I'm really sorry to hear you had this experience,' one user posted. 

Banjo released a statement apologising and said the comments were 'taken out of context'.

'In the course of expanding the account management team at Banjo, an unfortunate misunderstanding has occurred during an interview with a candidate, for which Banjo would like to offer an unreserved apology,' Banjo CEO Andrew Varasdi said in the statement.

'The senior staff member who conducted what was a very positive interview, made a casual remark at the end of the interview, which was intended to set the person at ease. 

'Unfortunately it was taken out of context and has since gained some notoriety on social media. Needless to say, the Banjo staff member is deeply upset by the incident.' 

(Daily Mail)