My favorite ad in Teays’ Second Thoughts is the “Got Milk?” campaign poster with NBA all-star Steve Nash. I remember how good Nash was in the NBA and how he was a favorite player among many young fans. This poster captivated my attention because I remember these posters adorned in the halls of middle school. Pro-athletes, musicians, and celebrities were always on these posters with the famous milk mustache. Although famous individuals had no expertise on the effect of drinking milk daily, everyone is fascinated by what their idols do. Young kids look up to role models in whatever they are passionate in. Kids want to be their hero and they will try to follow their hero’s footsteps. The next time a parent urges their kid to drink a glass of milk after dinner, they might be more inclined to because of the “Got Milk?” posters.

The intent behind these posters was smart since they blended into whatever environment they were put in. In schools, these posters never looked out of the ordinary. It can be argued that Got Milk is one of the arguably most successful adverting campaigns ever. I was interested in the origins of Got Milk and I discovered that it was a campaign created by the Californian Dairy Industry. The purpose of this ad was to make sure that Americans were consuming a sufficient amount of milk to sustain the milk industry. Ironically, milk consumption decreased nationally among Americans during the time of this campaign. The reason was that not having milk was not necessarily an issue. Some people chose to drink it more and others did not. This campaign brought awareness, but it did not encourage people to buy milk in greater quantities. Still, “Got Milk?” is so recognizable among Americans because of its widespread use in popular culture throughout the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.