You can practically hear one of the morally oblivious fashionistas from the world of Zoolander saying it: "Babies, they're so hot right now!"
In that world, the advertising campaign for Huggies' new limited-edition denim diapers, set to go on sale in Canada in June, wouldn't ruffle any feathers. But here in the real world, the ad has stirred controversy over its depiction of a baby attracting appreciative glances from adult members of the opposite sex.
In the advertisement, a toddler wearing a collared shirt tucked into a denim diaper struts down the street as a man's voiceover says, "My diaper is full. Full of chic!" and "When it's No. 2, I look like No. 1." When two women see the boy, they pull down their sunglasses to stare as if they were looking at a hot male model.
"It's moderately funny but also moderately disturbing," one commenter wrote on www.fashionist.ca, which posted the ad last week. "I laughed but not sure how I feel about the sexy baby. I mean, what's next?"
One commenter on nymag.com called it "abhorrent" and "borderline porny."
Many others, however, say the ad is clearly meant to be taken humorously.
"How can you think that is anything other than just funny and cute?" one said.
The Huggies commercial isn't the only recent ad to sexualize babies.
Earlier this year, a Korean advertising agency created ads for Good-Nites that resemble David Beckham's latest Armani underwear campaign. Just like in the Beckham ad, the diaper-clad baby stares defiantly at the camera while twisting a rope around his glistening body.
There are really only two differences between the two highly sexual ads: One, the baby is wearing a diaper and not, as Mr. Beckham is, underwear. Two, the baby is a baby! Creepily sexualizing children, it's so hot right now.
Dave McGinn