NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Molly Baz, the celebrity chef and cookbook author, has returned to a Times Square billboard—this time breastfeeding her baby boy and promoting "combo feeding"—months after an ad featuring her exposed pregnant belly was deemed “too provocative” and removed.
The 45-foot billboard at West 47th Street and Broadway is part of a partnership between Baz and the company Bobbie, which describes itself as “the only mom-founded and led pediatric nutrition company in the U.S.”
In a press release Tuesday, Bobbie said the "Everybody's gotta eat" billboard is “the first in the iconic advertising mecca in New York City to feature a breastfeeding mom.”
According to Bobbie, the ad—placed prominently in the heart of Times Square—shows “Molly, mom to 4-month old Gio (more lovingly known as Mr. Boots) confidently breastfeeding while shaking a bottle of Bobbie baby formula—challenging outdated stigmas around the choices parents make to feed their babies.”
Some 70% of U.S. parents who use formula are combo feeding, or using a combination of breastfeeding, pumping and formula, according to Bobbie.
“When we heard that Molly was combo feeding with Bobbie it was important to us that she led with breastfeeding on this billboard (not just formula),”said Laura Modi, CEO and co-founder of Bobbie, in a statement.
Modi, a mother of four herself, cited research showing one in five moms in the U.S. feels embarrassed or ashamed to breastfeed in public and 67% of parents feel guilty in their feeding choices.
“Changing the culture happens when moms like Molly show us what should not only be accepted, but celebrated in public– and it’s a message we are proud to amplify,” Modi said.
The new ad was put up just steps from the digital billboard at West 49th Street and Broadway where Baz and breastfeeding support company Swehl put up an ad earlier this year.
But that ad—which featured a pregnant Baz with her bare belly out and her breasts covered with homemade lactation cookies—was pulled just three days after launch. According to the New York Times, the operator of the billboard found the ad violated “guidelines on acceptable content.”
Critics said the removal highlighted a double standard in the advertising world in which sexualized breasts are acceptable but nursing breasts are not.
Baz said on social media at the time that she was “extremely disappointed,” adding, “Take one look at the landscape of other billboards in Times Square and I think you’ll see the irony. Bring on the lingerie so long as it satiates the male gaze.”
In a statement about the new billboard, Baz said, “I never thought I would be a poster child for shaking motherhood stigmas, but as a new mom with a platform who is going through this experience in real time, I’m proud to bare all for the sake of moving us forward as a society.”
“We still have work to do to destigmatize pregnancy, breastfeeding, formula feeding and a woman’s body in any way, shape, form or size,” she added. “I hope this campaign brings us one step closer to achieving that.”
In a post on Instagram Tuesday, the new mom wrote that "after months of exclusively breastfeeding" she returned to work and found it difficult to "breastfeed and pump throughout the day, whilst attempting to juggle a literal gazillion and one other things."
"To top it all off, our doctor told us our little latch king needs to be getting even more calories than these mamas can produce," she wrote, going on to say that with Bobbie she'll now "nurse as much as humanly poss, and lean on formula for the rest."