USA: New milk campaign stresses active life to promote dairy - USDA
Milk producers are a little sad to see the iconic Got Milk? ad campaign go.
In the 20 years since the campaign went national, Got Milk? has connected milk with all sorts of celebrities – from athletes like David Beckham and Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers to characters like Austin Powers and Green Lantern to beauties like Taylor Swift and Christie Brinkley.
The Milk Processor Education Program, or MilkPEP, officially dropped Got Milk? on Monday in favor of a new campaign that the industry is hoping it can win back consumers with the slogan, "Milk Life," after sales declined, year over year, for the last four years.
The Got Milk? campaign got a lot of attention, said dairy educator Nicole Karstedt. When she brings her mobile dairy classroom and a Molly the Cow to a school, hundreds of kids greet them with “Got Milk?”
“When we pull up at schools, it’s the first thing that kids say,” said Karstedt, who visits 120 schools around Georgia each year. “It’s been a great campaign, but I also am excited about Milk Life.
“I think it’s good that the new campaign is really promoting the protein that is in milk. Got Milk? was cool – with celebrities and amazing-looking people,” she said.
But the message that milk is nutritious got lost in the glamour.
“Now milk is promoted with everyday people and you can see how milk will benefit your everyday life routine,” Karstedt said.
The new $50 million campaign already is stressing that milk has the protein that active people are seeking.
"Consumers have forgotten, or never knew, the basic things about milk," Victor Zaborsy, the marketing director of MilkPEP, told National Public Radio. "About how nutritious it is, particularly about milk's protein.
"So it's the just the perfect time for us to really put a laser focus on that specific benefit. And help people understand that starting their day with a glass of milk ... can really help jumpstart their day."
Milk consumption has dropped off over the past few generations, though Americans do not consume enough dairy products to meet recommended dietary allowances.
The USDA released a study about the trend in May 2013. Research found that between 1977 and 2008, the number of teens and adults who don’t drink milk on a daily basis rose from 41 percent to 54 percent, while the number who drank milk three or more times a day fell to just 4 percent.
The earliest Milk Life ads stress what dairy can do for an active life, showing a young girl leaping into a pool and a teenage boy break dancing.
“A lot of people don’t realize that an 8-ounce glass of milk has the same protein as an egg,” Karstedt said. “Some protein bars don’t even have as much protein.”
Showing young parents and teens the nutritional assets of milk may begin to build daily habits and reverse the trend, she said.
The national milk industry began using "Got Milk?" in 1995 when the phrase was licensed from the California Milk Processor board, which will continue to use the line in the future.
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