Setting the Record Straight: Got Milk? Campaign (critique post)

                                      

https://www.gotmilk.com/

Welcome back to all my loyal green subscribers! I hope you all have been enjoying the blog post I have been putting out this past week. Make sure to check them out for more vegan research, information, ideas, and more. For today's post I wanted to critique, rant a tad, and set the record straight on the false marketing messages of the infamous "Got Milk?" campaign. Let's jump right into it. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the "Got Milk?" campaign, in 1993 concerns grew in the dairy industry. Reason being, there was a steady decline in milk consumption for many consecutive years. This  created the nonprofit California Milk Processor board, who approached the Goodby S&P advertising agency seeking fresh ideas to get Americans excited about drinking milk. The challenge for the agency was trying to find new ways to brand milk, milk had been around for decades already so it was nothing new to consumers. While the Goodby S&P agency were conducting research for a focus group one woman said "The one time I even think about milk, is when I run out of it." This led the focus group moderator to write down the infamous two words, "Got Milk?" which became the word branding for the campaign. Goodby S&P utilized the powerful source of high profile celebrities from all types of entertainment industries for the campaign. One reason they were so successful was not just because they used celebrities--but they recruited celebrities from different ranges of ages, sizes, and races to be the face of the campaigns. 

The message behind the campaign was to promote the idea that milk is essential for us in order to be healthy and vital for strong bones. So what's the issue you ask? It was all a big fat lie.

Many modern-day health problems actually stem from milk/dairy consumption and there is more to this than the companies and corporations want you to know. Like that pasteurized milk contains alarming levels of pus or “somatic cells”, these are the same cells that are produced from zits on your face. According to the National Milk Producers Federation “the maximum level of somatic cells allowed in milk currently stands at 400,000 somatic cells per mL as of 2014…” Dairy is considered a mucus-forming food, it contains pus and bacteria and the hormones found in cow's milk are not meant to be in the human body. Our own antibodies cannot understand what these hormones are. Specifically the hormone IGF-1, when taken into the human body it makes our pituitary gland secrete more growth hormones, so when you have cancer it causes cells to replicate.

Now stop and think for a second, just like humans, cows can only produce milk for their young, hence they need to be pregnant before they begin lactating. Although this sounds natural, in the dairy industry it’s everything but natural for these cows. These cows are forcibly impregnated over and over with artificial insemination. The irony behind many of the celebrities who participated in the campaign during the 2000's is many of them are vegans themselves now. Examples of the celebrities who participated in the campaign who no longer consume dairy are those above of Angelina Jolie, Miley Cyrus, and Beyonce.