Recent years have seen many provocative campaigns and marketing stunts from both the dairy industry and makers of plant-based alternatives.

The latest campaign comes from the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB). Titled "Everyone Wants to be Milk", it makes fun of the vast array of “milks” that exist today, asks what is so special about the word milk and why so many beverages want to use that word in their names.

Launched in August 2023, the campaign will appear on TV and social media in California, extending to influencer marketing and an 8-bit digital game later this year.

You can watch the 45 second video here: https://www.gotmilk.com/getreal/

If you haven't got time to watch it, here's a summary: it's based on the children’s song If You’re Happy and You Know It. The voice-over, in the melody of the song, says “everyone thinks they can be milk these days. If that’s you, go ahead and clap your hands this way”. It features images of outrageous drinks such as octopus milk, hot dog milk and unicorn tears milk.

Snapshots from the campaign video

“Nowadays, it seems anything can call itself “milk", and every day it seems there's another trendy challenger at the door with a man-made concoction that people are thinking is "milk"”, says Gallegos United, the agency behind the campaign. “We've taken this a hundred steps further with a campaign so ridiculous it makes you reconsider what you know about "milk". Pushing the boundaries of how far people could go, and through milk's humorous tone, get consumers to think twice and realize that only real milk is REAL.”

According to the CMPB, the campaign aims to advance the “real” versus “fake” argument and the idea is said to have sprung from reading about potato milk in the news. The key message of the campaign is that only dairy milk is milk, referring to it as “the undefeated, real, healthy, tasty beverage champion.”