Feature

South Korea's risque Oreo breast-feeding ad: Genius?

A leaked advertisement is provoking controversy with its unusual combination of a baby, a beloved cookie, and a prominently bare nipple

The image: The celebrations for Oreo's 100th birthday are off to an improbably R-rated start. A leaked advertisement for Oreos in South Korea, which quickly whirled around the internet, features a baby holding an Oreo while feeding from a shapely breast. (See the NSFW image below.) The caption reads, "Milk's favorite cookie," and the ad was titled "Oreo Basic Instinct" by its creator, the advertising firm Cheil Worldwide. Kraft, Oreo's parent company, says that the ad was meant for an advertising forum in South Korea, and never intended for wide release.

The reaction: This "provocative ad is spectacular," says Elie Ayrouth at FoodBeast, but who is the target audience, exactly? "Pregnant women? Horny snack junkies? Super advanced grocery decision-making infants?" Regardless, it's clear breastfeeding in South Korea isn't the "brouhaha-inducing Big Deal" it is over here, says Neetzan Zimmerman at Gawker. And the ad gets its point across: When you have milk, you have to have an Oreo. "But isn't there something kind of… icky… about the way this ad blatantly sexualizes breastfeeding?" says Kavita Varma-White at MSNBC. The ad was undoubtedly created by "a guy, or a group of them — sitting around thinking, 'How can we make a cookie look sexy?' Cookies. Milk. Kids. Breast milk. Boobs!" Judge for yourself:

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