Kraft’s ‘Food You Want to Fork’ Ads Are More Evidence Porn Has Gone Mainstream

Porn used to be relegated to the shadowy fringes of popular entertainment, but the distinction between hardcore and mainstream is becoming increasingly fuzzy. Case in point? Kraft’s recent “Food You Want to Fork” ad campaign, which makes unabashed use of the visual language of pornography. We’ve heard of “food porn,” but this is taking it to a new level!

Watch the ads here:

Both ads are rife with the sort of stylized, sexualized “tease” dialogue that you’d find in an Evil Angel movie like Dirty Talk. Both also play on tried-and-true porn scenarios: the illicit workplace tryst, and the cuckolded husband whose trust is betrayed by the young and virile houseboy. The “lunch” ad even refers to fetish play by incorporating dialogue about spanking.

Buzzfeed’s Tasty vids have long used fetish-like shots of food prep that are the culinary equivalent of the opener to a Jules Jordan movie, so in a way it’s not surprising to see a company life Kraft appropriate even more elements of porn’s look and aesthetic.

The intended audience is one that’s also a major consumer of porn: “The sensual and comedic ad is definitely targeting young Millennial American men. The commercial appeals to their supposed manly and ravenous side while using humor to sell the company’s product,” noted Trendhunter in its evaluation of the ad camapign.

Sex in advertising is nothing new, of course. A widely circulated fake Guinness ad from 2008 featured an implied foursome, and Miller Light whipped up a notorious “catfight mud wrestling” spot in 2003. Both generated a certain amount of controversy, however, while Kraft’s “Fork” ads have not. More proof that porn is growing more and more mainstream? We think so! Still a little forking weird, though.