South Korea’s biggest dairy company has been forced to apologise over an advert depicting women as cows – 13 years after it scandalised the public by using nude women to market a yogurt. The offending 53 second video by Seoul Dairy Cooperative begins with a man wandering through the countryside with a camera, before the viewer is led to assume he has happened upon a herd of cows. A male voice-over says: “We finally succeeded in capturing them on camera at a pristine place … They drink clean water from pure nature, insist on an eco-friendly organic diet, and live peacefully in a pleasant environment. I will try to approach them cautiously.” Hiding in bushes, the man starts filming what is then revealed to be a group of women drinking from a stream and doing yoga. The man then accidentally steps on a twig, startling the women who look up before transforming into black and white milk cows and mooing loudly. The advert concludes with the message: “Clean water, organic feed, 100 per cent pure Seoul Milk. Organic milk from an organic ranch in pleasant nature.” A huge social media backlash forced the firm to remove the advert from its YouTube channel last week, just days after it first appeared. Internet users accused the firm of committing a “molka” crime (secretly filming women without their consent) – something that in recent years has become an increasingly major social issue in the country. “This is misogynistic. Is Seoul milk insane,” tweeted one member of the public. “Only criminals view women as objects that can be filmed anytime,” remarked another. After removing the advert, Seoul Milk released a statement saying: “We sincerely apologise 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.” South Korean women face hate attacks as an antifeminist movement grows However, this is not the first time the milk maker has come under fire for sexist marketing. In 2003, one of its promotional events featured naked women daubing each other’s bodies with yogurt in front of live crowds and cameramen. On that occasion, Seoul Dairy Cooperative’s marketing manager, the public relations agency head, the director of the event and the models were all fined for obscenity.