Luvs' new 'public breastfeeding is awesome' ad

The video: In the first half of a new commercial from Luvs Diapers, a frazzled first-time mom sits alone in a restaurant, struggling to breastfeed her son under a blanket so as not to offend her fellow patrons. (Watch the ad below.) Cut to the second half of the clip, and a slightly older and wiser mom is in the same restaurant, this time breastfeeding her second baby in plain view while her firstborn, now a few years older, sits beside her. The shocked waiter can't take his eyes off the woman's chest, but the cool-headed and confident mom handles it like a pro, pointing to her face and saying, "Hey, up here." The point of the ad? A new study supposedly suggests that the more experience a mom has, the more likely she is to buy Luvs. Indeed, says an off-screen voice: "By their second kid, every mom is an expert — and more likely to choose Luvs."

The reaction: This ad is "smart, funny and graceful," says Advertisement Journal, and accomplishes its mission of making customers feel as though they buy Luvs "because they are better moms." Yes, the message is clear, says Tim Nudd at Adweek. But "the data nugget on which the campaign is based seems suspicious." Maybe second-time moms are more likely to buy Luvs simply because they cost less? Maybe, says Laura Beck at Jezebel, but who cares? The positive message — "public breastfeeding is awesome" — that this ad sends trumps the questionable statistics behind Luvs' popularity. "Luvs 4 babies in 2012!"

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