Seoul Dairy Cooperative, South Korea’s leading milk producer, released the advert in late September on YouTube.

Having been deleted by the company, an upload of the video has gone viral, sparking discussion on the objectification of women in commercials as well as the man’s behavior in the advert.

In the video a man can be seen hiking in a woodland area with camera gear. A male voice in the advert then says: “We finally managed to capture them on camera in a place of pristine cleanliness.”

The man with the camera then stops to record a group of women wearing all-white drinking water from a river running through the woodlands. There is also a closeup of a woman drinking water from a leaf.

The video then cut to the same group of women in an open field in a variety of positions with the man behind the camera accidentally stepping on a twig and alerting the women to his presence.

The advert ends with the words “Clean water, organic feed, 100 percent pure Seoul Milk. Organic milk from an organic ranch in the pleasant nature of Cheongyang.”

After an online backlash, the company released an apologetic statement.

It read: “We sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable with the milk commercial released on 29th last month.

“We are accepting this matter seriously and will conduct an internal review, and take extra care to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

“We bow our heads in apology.”

The action of illegally filming or “molka” has long been a problem in South Korea. In 2018 BBC South Korea’s Minji Lee explained her history with the issue in BBC show The Fifth Floor.

She said: “There are two forms of molka, those that are held by people on public transportation, and the other type is the one that is planted in public toilets.

“Usually when these videos are filmed they would be distributed on illegal online sites.

“A lot of sociologists point out that some men watch these films because they want to be in control of women.

“They feel that seeing women on the toilet in a vulnerable state makes them feel empowered actually.”

She also noted that when women complain about this issue to the police it is not always resolved as they are told they need to provide evidence. She added it can be difficult to obtain evidence to give to the police to get the issue resolved.

Newsweek has contacted Seoul Dairy Cooperative for comment.