Got Milk?

It might be improper grammar, but I'm a fan of the "Got Milk?" slogan. And the campaign's execution.

The story of this iconic campaign is interesting and there are still differing opinions about whether or not the campaign was successful.

This "Aaron Burr" spot is the first commercial to run in the "Got Milk?" campaign. It aired nationwide on October 29, 1993 and was directed by Michael Bay before he became an A-list Hollywood film maker. 

Not only was "Aaron Burr" celebrated with advertising industry awards in 1994, but in 2002, a USA Today poll voted it as one of the top 10 commercials of all time.

It was the first of a series of commercials featuring people with a mouthful of dry or sticky foods requiring milk. One commercial questioned the concept of Heaven and Hell. 

Santa Claus even got involved.

The campaign was created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners (San Francisco) for the California Milk Processor Board to encourage the consumption of milk. It was underwritten by dairy farmers contributing 15-cents from every hundredweight of milk (about $13.50). It was later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers.

The national campaign, run by MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program) included the national TV campaign, and added the "got milk?" logo to its "Milk Mustache" ads beginning in 1995.

Was the campaign a success?

At the time, faced with stiff competition with deep pockets, such as Coke, Pepsi, Gatorade, Snapple, and Evian, milk sales were dropping at about 3% a year. The campaign increased awareness to 91%, but "Got Milk?" didn't increase milk sales. It did, however, stabilize sales, so many people feel it was a success. 

Is the campaign still running?

In 2014, MilkPEP discontinued its Milk Mustache and "Got Milk? advertisements, replacing it with a "Milk Life" campaign. The "Got Milk?" campaign has since run in California and the "Got Milk" trademark has been licensed to food and merchandise companies for U.S. and international sales.

Pandemic Impact

Although, milk consumption had been on a downward trend (declining about 2% to 2.5% annually) in recent years, lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic turned sales around. According to Nielsen, sales of cow’s milk increased almost 12% April-July 2020 from the same period in 2019.

In August 2020, MilkPEP revived the “Got Milk?” campaign as TV and digital ads showcasing user-generated social media videos of everyday people — and stars like US Olympian Katie Ledecky — using milk in creative ways.