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Got Milk? (often stylized as got milk?) is an American advertising campaign on
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
and
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encouraging the consumption of
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
and
dairy products Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...
. Created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, it was later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers. It was launched in 1993 by the " Aaron Burr" television commercial, directed by
Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...
. The national campaign, run by MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program) began to add the "got milk?" logo to its "Milk Mustache" ads in 1995. In January 2014, MilkPEP discontinued its Milk Mustache and "got milk?" advertisements, launching a new campaign with the tagline "Milk Life". The campaign continued in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and the "got milk?" trademark is licensed to food and merchandise companies for U.S. and international sales. The campaign has led to increased milk sales in California, although not nationwide.


History

The initial Got Milk? phrase was created by the American
advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...
Goodby Silverstein & Partners. In an interview in '' Art & Copy'', a 2009
documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
that focused on the origins of famous advertising slogans, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein said that the phrase almost didn't turn into an advertising campaign. According to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', people at Goodby Silverstein "thought it was lazy, not to mention grammatically incorrect". The advertisements would typically feature people in various situations involving dry or sticky foods and treats such as cakes and cookies. The people then would find themselves in an uncomfortable situation due to a full mouth and no milk to wash it down. These include a commercial of a cruel businessman getting hit by a truck seconds after insulting someone over the phone and seemingly going to
Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
, only to find out it is actually Hell where he finds a huge plate of cookies and an endless supply of completely empty milk cartons; as well as a commercial of an airplane pilot intentionally putting his plane into a dangerously steep nosedive in order to obtain a bottle of milk from a
flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...
's cart out of his reach, only for the cart to crash into a man who gets out of the bathroom right in front of the cart and the bottle to tip over. At the end of the commercial, the character would look directly to the camera sadly and then boldly displayed would be the words "Got Milk?" The print advertisements would feature food such as a sandwich, cookies, or cupcakes with a bite taken out of them or cats, and children demanding milk. The first Got Milk? advertisement aired nationwide on October 29, 1993, which featured a historian (played by Sean Whalen) receiving a call to answer a radio station's $10,000 trivia question (voiced by Rob Paulsen), "Who shot
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...
in that famous duel?" (referring to the Burr–Hamilton duel). The man is shown to have an entire museum solely for the duel itself, packed with all the artifacts. He answers the question correctly by saying " Aaron Burr", but because his mouth is full of peanut butter sandwich and he does not have milk to wash it down, his answer is unintelligible. The DJ promptly hangs up on him, as he whimpers the answer one last time to show his displeasure on having missed out on the prize. The ad, directed by
Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...
, was at the top of the advertising industry's award circuit in 1994. In 2002, the ad was named one of the ten best commercials of all time by a ''
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'' poll and was run again nationwide that same year. The slogan "Got Milk?" was licensed to the National Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) in 1995 to use on its print ads, which, since then, have included celebrities like Britney Spears,
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
,
Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...
,
Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
, and Venus Williams, as well as fictional characters from TV, video games, and films such as the Avengers, the Simpsons,
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
,
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, the Powerpuff Girls, and
SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...
posing in print advertisements sporting a "milk mustache" and employing the slogan "Where's ''your'' mustache?" The milk mustache campaign was created by art director Bernie Hogya and copywriter Jennifer Gold. The milk mustache campaign promoting the Super Bowl has also been featured in ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
''; the Friday edition featured one player from each Super Bowl team to the player from the winning team in Monday's edition. It was not featured in 2014 since the advertising focus that year was on the "Protein Fight Club" campaign, which promoted the importance of eating breakfast with milk, and the "Refuel: Got Chocolate Milk" campaign. Former California Governor Gray Davis expressed his dislike for one commercial and asked if there was a way to remove it from the air. It featured two children who refuse to drink milk, because they believe milk is for babies. They tell their mother that their elderly next-door neighbor, Mr. Miller, never drinks milk. They see him going to use his wheelbarrow when suddenly his arms rip off because, having not consumed milk, his bones are weak and fragile. The children scream in horror and then frighteningly start imbibing every last drop of milk they have. From 1994 to 2005, ads appeared in California directed at Hispanic consumers, using the tagline "Familia, Amor y Leche" ("Family, Love and Milk"), created by Anita Santiago Advertising. In 2005, the Spanish-language campaign was awarded to ad agency Grupo Gallegos, which changed the tagline to “toma leche”, or “drink milk”. According to the Got Milk? website, the campaign has over 90% awareness in the United States, and the tagline has been licensed to dairy boards across the nation since 1995. Got Milk? is a powerful property and has been licensed on a range of consumer goods, including
Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...
dolls, Hot Wheels, baby and teen apparel, and kitchenware. The trademarked line has been widely parodied by groups championing a variety of causes. Many of these parodies use a lookalike rather than the actual persons used in the original Got Milk? advertisements. In 2005, the California Milk Processor Board created a "Got Ripped Off?" poster showcasing its top 100 favorite parodies of the slogan. The voice saying "Got Milk?" in most of the nationwide television commercials is that of American voiceover actor Denny Delk. Other narrators have occasionally been used. In February 2014, MilkPEP announced that it would discontinue licensing the slogan for its advertising in favor of a new tagline, "Milk Life". Despite this, the California Milk Processor Board (the creators and owners of the trademark) continue to use it. In 2020, MilkPEP revived the campaign in light of increased sales during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


See also

* Got Rice?


References


Further reading

*


External links

* gotmilk.com * {{Official website, http://www.tomaleche.com tomaleche.com American advertising slogans Advertising campaigns Dairy farming in the United States Food industry advertising slogans Snowclones Milk in culture 1993 quotations 1993 establishments in the United States Dairy marketing