The cookbook’s author addresses the issue around the lactation cookies advertisement.

In response to backlash over a Times Square poster that featured the expectant cookbook author endorsing lactation biscuits, Molly Baz is speaking out.

The digital billboard showcases Baz, the best-selling cookbook author on the New York Times, holding two lactation cookies near her breasts while revealing her stomach.

Beneath the picture of Baz is an inscription that says, “Just Add Milk.” The 45-foot commercial that Baz made for Swehl to promote her lactation cookies was meant to honor nursing mothers, according to Baz.

“It’s super disheartening and infuriating to me that my, kind of, first public foray into being a public mother was one that was deemed inappropriate,” Baz stated.

The firm that sponsored Swehl’s billboard, Brex, informed ABC News that the advertisement was taken down as a result of a communication from the digital billboard’s owner, Clear Channel. Brex claims that Clear Channel stated that the image was “flagged for review.”

“Since Brex firmly believes in Swehl’s objective, we authorized the creative and obtained the advertising space to allow them to run it in Times Square.

Actually, we purchase billboards on behalf of a large number of our clients via our Brex card rewards program; these clients would not otherwise be able to purchase them.

After the Swehl advertisement had been airing for a few days, Brex received a notification from Clear Channel stating that the ad had been “flagged for review.”

Adweek’s chief content officer, Zoe Ruderman, said, “That can mean that people complained.” “So, it means either the channel or the billboard in Times Square received complaints either from a few very important people or some very vocal people on social media, or it can be a lot of people.”

According to Baz, “From my perspective, the imagery that we put together was no different from any of the other ads that are in Times Square.”

Brex also told ABC News that it had originally “misinterpreted” the message from Clear Channel, believing it to mean that the advertisement “had to be removed.” It then informed Swehl of this, and Swehl “provided a different ad, which was rotated in.” “The ad was never pulled … and no ad space was lost for Swehl,” said Brex.

Nevertheless, Swehl informed ABC News that it had received an email on May 9 from Brex indicating that the advertisement had been pulled by Clear Channel because “it violates their guidelines for acceptable content,” not that it had been “flagged for review.”

“Molly and Swehl concepted our campaign to infuse fun and strength into this rite of passage; so you can imagine that our team was infuriated to hear the ad was pulled for being ‘unacceptable’ without any further context,” stated Swehl.

Baz claims that the idea was to “empower” expectant mothers, and that the cookies in the advertisement are intended to assist new mothers in producing breast milk that is rich in nutrients.

“We wanted a picture that showed a woman that was really empowered in her pregnancy and so there was a lot of different poses and stances, and the one that we chose is one where I am fully belly out … holding these two cookies,” Baz explained.

When this story was first published, the New York Times noted that the original advertisement was only supposed to run for one week, from Monday, May 6, through Mother’s Day.

Since then, Baz has shared a picture on Instagram displaying the article and discussing the topic.

“[T]ake a look at the other billboards in Times Square to understand the irony, in my opinion. bring on the underwear as long as it satisfies the desire for male attention,” Baz partially captioned the photo.

“There’s a bit of a history of, I will say, a double standard that when bodies, specifically breasts are shown when it comes to selling lingerie, let’s say, that’s more acceptable but when it’s something having to do with prenatal wellness or postnatal care, nursing, that tends to get flagged and we see a little bit of backlash,” Ruderman said.

Baz claimed she was informed the Times Square billboard would being pulled down, but she won’t let the issue deter her from announcing her pregnancy to the world.

“We’re going to keep amplifying this message that women and their pregnant bodies and everything that pregnancy and breastfeeding entails is something to celebrate,” Baz stated.