A South Korean milk company faced backlash for running an advertisement which depicts women as cows. In the video from Seoul Dairy Cooperative, a man is seen making his way through the forest where he observes women who are dressed in white, drinking water from a stream and relaxing in a green meadow.
In a translation of the ad, the man says “They drink clean water from pure nature, consume an eco-friendly organic diet, and live peacefully in a placid environment. I will try to approach them cautiously.”
The man quietly approaches with a video camera from the cover of trees. He steps on a branch and startles the group, who have morphed from women into cows.
The commercial ends with the tagline: “Clean water, organic feed, 100% pure Seoul Milk. Organic milk from an organic ranch in the pleasant nature of Cheongjang.”
According to The Korea Herald, the milk brand took down the video and apologised on its official website.
“We sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable because of our YouTube advertisement. We are accepting this matter with a heavy heart and will internally review and take extra care to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future,” the statement read.
While the original video has been removed, comments were shared on social media after the video was reposted. On Seoul Dairy Cooperative’s official Instagram page, one social media user said that “I will never drink Seoul Milk again,” while others described how gender-insensitive the company was.
Watch it here:
Picture: YouTube / screenshot from video
