A plan to cover a 108-foot-high mural of a humpback whale in downtown Detroit with a car ad is being scrapped.

SAVE THE WHALES YOUR TURN: Billboard Still Up For Grabs?

General Motors withdrew its plan to advertise its Pontiac G-6 on a billboard over the mural, referred to as Wyland's Whaling Wall, which covers the side of the Broderick Tower in downtown Detroit. The mural is seen beyond the right field of Comerica Park.

City officials cannot paint over the mural by law, but the Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals had instead agreed to allow General Motors to drape over the mural with its advertisement, according to Local 4 reports.

GM said that public response to the plan prompted its decision to cancel the advertisement.

Robert Wyland, a Madison Heights native who goes by his last name, is the artist who painted the mural in 1997 as a gift to the city. He said he is elated by the decision -- calling it a great victory for public art everywhere.

Wyland, who is famous for his murals all over the world, had been prepared to file a lawsuit to protect his art. He said the art needed to be saved from the "advertising companies that just see it as a way for them to make money."

The wall remains open to advertising offers from other companies, according to reports.