Cadbury apologizes to Naomi Campbell over chocolate ad

Kraft-owned confectioner Cadbury has apologized to Naomi Campbell after the supermodel threatened to sue them, claiming an advertisement comparing her to a chocolate bar was racist.

An ad for Cadbury's Bliss range of Dairy Milk chocolate bars had used the line "Move over Naomi, there's a new diva in town."

According to the Guardian, Campbell said she was "shocked" by the ad, intended to poke fun at the model's reputation for diva-style tantrums and behavior.

"It's upsetting to be described as chocolate, not just for me but for all black women and black people," Campbell, variously identified as 39 and 41 years old, reportedly said, Digital Spy reports. "I do not find any humor in this. It is insulting and hurtful."

Disgust at the ad prompted members of the public to complain to the campaign group Operation Black Vote, which responded by calling the ad an "insult" to black women.

Campbell's mother, Valerie, meanwhile said the model was "deeply upset by this racist advert," one of 15 developed by the Fallon agency.

"This is the 21st century, not the 1950s," she added. "Shame on Cadbury."

Cadbury pulled the ads and released a statement Friday apologizing to Campbell and her family, the New York Daily News reports.

"Cadbury takes its responsibility to consumers very seriously indeed, and we would never deliberately produce any marketing material we felt might cause offense to any section of society," the company said on Friday. "It was not our intention that this campaign should offend Naomi, her family or anybody else, and we are sincerely sorry that it has done so."

In a statement on its U.K. website, Cadbury said it was "not our intention that this campaign should offend Naomi, her family or anybody else and we are sincerely sorry that it has done so."

"We have been in discussions with Naomi's solicitors and can confirm that they have accepted our apology on her behalf as a conclusion to this issue," the company reportedly said.

In response, Campbell said, "I'm pleased that Cadbury have made a 'sincere apology' in regards to their Bliss ad campaign," AOL reports. She continued: "The advertisement was in poor taste on a number of levels, not least in the way they likened me to their chocolate bar. It is also a shame that it took so long for Cadbury to offer this apology."