A comedic ad campaign by Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) featuring Aubrey Plaza about “Wood Milk” has drawn hue and cry from the Physicians Committee.
Despite the actress saying “Is Wood Milk real? Absolutely Not. Only real milk is real” in the ad, the Physicians Committee says the campaign was designed to elicit backlash against plant-based milk. “Using a fictitious product named ‘Wood Milk’ as a stand-in for plant-based milk, the USDA-approved advertisements deride plant-based milk as a ‘fake ‘ ‘slime’ possessing ‘zero nutritional value’.” The complaint stated that the campaign’s timing was meant to influence comments on the FDA guidance.
However, Yin Woon Rani, MilkPEP CEO says Wood Milk is a fun and comedic way to highlight the power of real dairy milk. “With zero nutritional value, our fictitious Wood Milk brand is designed to encourage consumers to educate themselves on their beverage options and the differences in the nutritional profiles within. As the FDA recently ruled, not all milk is equal when it comes to nutrition – so while you may be able to make milk out of anything, it is important to understand when it comes to being a nutritional powerhouse, only dairy milk is real milk.”
The ad is a tongue-in-cheek campaign. It has Aubrey Plaza introducing herself as the co-founder of Wood Milk – the world’s first and only milk made from wood. “Our Wood Milk is bottled right here in the forest where the trees hit the dirt, which locks in the flavors like cherry, maple, and of course mahogany.” The ad is satirical, a parody concocted by MilkPEP, the same company did “Got Milk?” campaign. The Parks and Recreation actress takes a swig of Wood Milk and can be seen with the trademark milk mustache, but it’s chunkier with bits of wood pulp in it.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said the ad violates two federal requirements. It highlighted that ads can’t influence government action or policy. “This conduct unabashedly violates the legal guardrails that exist to prevent USDA from promoting one commodity to the detriment of others.”
The ad may have ignited the “dairy war” – pitching animal-based dairy against plant-based dairy.
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