The general attitude towards public breastfeeding is so divided that the idea of it becoming accepted by everyone looks pretty grim.
There are those who insist that breastfeeding is a natural part of mothering and should be allowed everywhere, without the threat of ugly glares or comments. On the other side of the fence, there are those who believe that breastfeeding in public is inappropriate because of the partial nudity it involves. One place the issue has recently hit a nerve is Facebook, when the social media site began taking down photos of breastfeeding women under the claim that they violated the site’s nudity policy. Facebook’s policies were put in place to curtail a barrage of images depicting the nude form in an effort to keep from becoming indistinguishable from a porn site, but some think their policing of breastfeeding photos goes too far; in fact, there are entire Facebook groups and profiles dedicated to raising awareness about breastfeeding, and about Facebook’s strict–often hypocritical–rules about images.
A new ad for Oreo cookies–which was created for South Korea and was reportedly never supposed to be released–but has made it’s way to the states–shows a baby at his mother’s breast while holding one of the sandwich cookies and is called “Basic Instinct”. The tagline? “Milk’s Favorite Cookie”. And although it’s rumored just to be a “spec ad” made by an ad agency and not Kraft foods–meaning it may never be used in ad markets at all–it’s still garnering a lot of attention because of the subject matter.
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Would this ever be acceptable here in the U.S.? I just can’t see it happening, and some say that’s the problem. America has an entirely different view on nudity and the human body than other countries do; our news stations show graphic and bloody violence, our daytime television shows depict steamy sex scenes, but for some reason breastfeeding upsets people. It’s an issue with a lot of angles to consider, and, given the backlash over this ad, there likely won’t be a compromise anytime soon.
