Parmigiano-Reggiano to Pornhub: Get Your Porn Away From Our Cheese

What do you know about Parmigiano-Reggiano? Well, what you should know is that it is a specific, valuable type of parmesan cheese—“The King of Cheeses”—and also that under no circumstances should you put out an advertisement associating King Cheese with pornography.

“Parmigiano-Reggiano is produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and parts of the provinces of Mantua and Bologna, on the plains, hills and mountains enclosed between the rivers Po and Reno,” explains the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortium’s website, which regularly grapples with cheese counterfeiting issues. Apparently, Pornhub is to capitalize off the strength of Parmigiano-Reggiano’s unique and famous taste, as the company recently released a short commercial featuring a couple at the grocery store discussing what type of cheese to get:

Man: Why don’t we get this aged Parmigiano-Reggiano?

Woman: [Laughs] When did you become such a foodie?

Man: Look, they say it’s the Pornhub Premium of cheeses.

Woman: [Incredulous face]

For those who are confused like this woman is, Pornhub Premium is the company’s new high-def porn site, that, just like Parmigiano-Reggiano, is not free.

As the Italian newspaper Repubblica reports, via The Daily Mail, the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortium is asking Pornhub to get rid “of the commercial in which the cheese, the symbol of excellence, is associated with the quality of the pornographic site,” mostly because it specifically calls out Parmigiano-Reggiano and not just parmesan cheese in general. (AS IF general parmesan cheese would be good enough in this stellar advertisement.)

The Guardian explains:

Lawyers for the association are investigating whether they have grounds to take legal action against Pornhub for supposedly tarnishing the name of their treasured cheese. In a statement released on Wednesday, the consortium branded the advert “not only distasteful and unacceptable, but offensive for our producers and their work”.

The video is “vulgarly aimed at making a profit from the exploitation of the fame gained by Parmigiano-Reggiano,” the statement said.