Chocolate advert leaves sour taste

LONDON, England -- A major chocolate manufacturer has issued an apology after one of its adverts made a light-hearted reference to one of the world's most volatile trouble spots.

Cadbury said it did not intend to cause offence after an advert for a product called Temptations made reference to the disputed territory of Kashmir and implied that both were "too good to share."

It appeared in Indian newspapers on August 15 -- Indian Independence Day. (Story)

It showed a map of Kashmir with the words: "I'm good. I'm tempting. I'm too good to share. What am I? -- Cadbury's Temptations or Kashmir?"

The campaign caused a national outcry, with politicians from all parties demanding an apology.

CNN.com Europe More news  from our European edition    QUICKVOTE There's no such thing as bad publicity True? False View Results

Vinod Tawde, a leading member of prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said the ads lacked "basic sensitivity."

"Kashmir is a very sensitive issue and thousands of jawans [soldiers] have sacrificed their lives for it," Tawde, head of the party's Mumbai chapter, told local newspapers.

"Such ads just trivialise the issue and lack basic sensitivity. How can an ad campaign, in the name of creativity, even imply that Kashmir is a state to be shared?

"That it is a state that our neighbour (Pakistan) is not getting? Why use an emotive issue like Kashmir to promote products?"

Cadbury India said in a statement: "The press advertisement for Cadbury's Temptations was issued entirely in good faith with no intention to offend the sentiments of the public.

"We offer our sincere apologies to any section of the public that may have been offended by this advertisement."

Its British-based parent company Cadbury Schweppes said in a statement: "From time to time local management make mistakes. This was clearly one."

Kashmir, the subject of two of the three wars between India and Pakistan, is divided between the two countries and claimed by both.

Earlier this year, it brought both sides to the brink of nuclear war and India has an estimated one million troops on the border where tension remains high.