Socialists spit pips over sexist Spanish cherry ad

The one-minute video was released on June 25th to coincide with the seventh international cherry symposium in the town of Plasencia in Extremadura.

In the video for the "smaller, crunchier, sweeter" Picota del Jerte variety of cherries, advertisers played with a range of sexual stereotypes.

Talking about cherries, they say that "size does matter", before going on to say "the smaller the better!".

With a backdrop of silly music, the cherry commercial then claims "the older, the tastier" before showing a picture of women's breasts.

This is followed up by the claim that the "sweetest, smoothest and meatiest" are the "fresh ones".

The video in question plays with sexual stereotypes.

But the video proved hard to swallow for both unions and socialist PSOE politicians from the Extremadura region, according to Spanish daily 20minutos.

"We are not going to consent to women's bodies being using as advertising and as objects of desire in a commercial lacking in creativity," said the Secretary for Equality for the PSOE in Extremadura Nélida Martín.

The socialists stressed that Spain's advertising laws "prohibit any commercial which injure the dignity of women, or which put in danger the rights of the constitution, especially when it comes to infancy, childhood and women".

Major Spanish union the CCOO also sunk its teeth into the subject saying the cherry commercial was "denigrating" to women and "used sexist and vulgar stereotypes".

In response, the official council for the denomination-controlled Jerte cherries withdraw the advertisement from its website.

The cherry growers said in a statement they had "never intended to offend and aggravate anyone.

They also said they were "deeply" sorry for any hurt they had caused.