Global production of cow’s milk has been rising steadily in recent years and has stood above 552 million tonnes. The largest producer was the European Union, followed by the United States. In terms of consumption, India ranked first in 2025, with consumption of 91 million tonnes. The European Union followed at a considerable distance, with consumption of 23.2 million tonnes. Milk is simply one of the world’s most important foods and has its place in everyday diets as well as in the modern food industry.
It is therefore no surprise that it receives well-deserved attention. And although World Milk Day is not yet an official international day recognised by the UN, the Food and Agriculture Organization and dairy organisations around the world support it and share information about the celebrations and activities associated with the day. But milk has also entered — and continues to enter — public awareness in another way: through television advertising.
Television advertising “in white”
One of the most memorable milk adverts is undoubtedly the 1993 spot Aaron Burr. It is based on a simple idea: a man knows the answer to a competition question worth USD 10,000 but cannot say it because his mouth is full of peanut butter and he has no milk at home to wash it down. The advert, created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, launched the famous Got Milk? campaign. In 2002, nine years after it first aired, the advert returned in a national television campaign, which was considered a rarity in the advertising industry at the time. At the 2009 Clio Awards ceremony, the advert was inducted into the Clio Awards Hall of Fame.
Video: Aaron Burr – Got Milk
Its success was later followed by famous adverts featuring celebrities and the distinctive milk moustache, created from 1995 onwards by MilkPEP as part of a nationwide milk promotion campaign in the United States. The campaign became part of American pop culture and, according to The New Yorker, was recognised by 91% of surveyed adults in the US in the mid-1990s.
Source: Milkadman.comAlso worth mentioning is Cravendale’s “Cats with Thumbs” advert, created by Wieden + Kennedy. The British advert is built on absurd humour. The spot featuring a gang of cats made it into Adweek’s Top Ten of 2011 and ranks among the finest examples of how ordinary milk can be turned into an entertaining television story.
Video: Cravendale – Cats with Thumbs
In 2010, an advert for the British organic dairy brand Yeo Valley brought together farmers, cows, tractors and rap. The spot aired during The X Factor and went viral. Due to audience interest, the song, which begins with the words “The sun is up, the milk is chilled. It’s gonna be a good one…”, was also released for download. The role usually played by elegantly dressed men and women relaxing on leather sofas and sipping luxury champagne is here taken over by farmers lying in the grass, eating organic yoghurt with spoons and drinking milk from a bottle. Instead of elegant, expensive cars in a garage, the hero is a tractor in a barn. According to Farmers Weekly, the campaign cost GBP 5 million and was watched by millions on YouTube.
Video: Yeo Valley Organic – Yeo Valley Rap
White milk and black humour — that is the case of the Egyptian series of adverts for Panda Cheese. These adverts also became a viral hit and won not only a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2010, but also an award at Dubai Lynx. Simply put: never say no to a panda!
Video: Never say no to Panda!
At the beginning of the 21st century, a little girl in a purple dress became the face of Petit Filous, the fruit yoghurts from Yoplait. In a series of picturesque adverts set in a French village, the girl demonstrated how the calcium in the yoghurts “helps build strong bones” as she rolled through fields, had adventures and — in one nostalgic advert — won back her friend’s marbles by defeating the local bully in an arm-wrestling match.
Video: Petits Filous Commercial Marbles
Greek yoghurt brand Fage, by contrast, presented itself in advertising in a more minimalist, premium and somewhat “food-styled” way — completely different from the playful adverts we are used to seeing for children’s yoghurts. The advert works as a great contrast to humorous and viral spots.
Video: FAGE – Plain Extraordinary
In 2019, an interesting campaign was created for Onken yoghurts. In its “Feed Your Inner Happiness” campaign, the British brand decided to show the joy of yoghurt in a slightly different way from the usual shots of fruit and happy breakfasts. Its central idea was to portray the inner happiness that can come from an ordinary moment with a pot of yoghurt. The campaign, created by AllTogetherNow, was rolled out as an umbrella campaign across various channels, including television and social media. The main character in the spot is a man enjoying Onken yoghurt at home on the sofa when he is interrupted by his cat, which unexpectedly speaks and thanks him for “doing an alright job” at looking after it. The spot uses humour based on observing the relationship between a person and a cat. The cat is not overly cute or enthusiastic; on the contrary, it comes across as typically aloof. This makes the moment when it gives its owner even the tiniest sign of appreciation all the funnier. The cat was voiced by Matt King, the British actor known, among other things, as Super Hans from the series Peep Show. It is precisely this small, highly restrained feline compliment that is meant to capture the feeling of subtle but pleasant “inner happiness”.
Video: Onken – Feed Your Inner Happiness
Among more recent adverts, we can also mention a 2024 advert by the New Zealand brand Anchor. The campaign, entitled “Real Milk. Real Good.”, was created in cooperation with TBWA\New Zealand. Its aim was to bring cow’s milk back into the spotlight at a time when it was facing strong competition from plant-based alternatives. The series of spots forming part of the campaign feels confident, modern and tongue-in-cheek:
Video: Anchor - Milk Real Good – Aubreys
Czech dairy brands in television advertising
Czech adverts for milk and dairy products rarely sell only the product itself. Milk, curd cream, yoghurt or cheese often becomes shorthand for childhood, home, honesty, the Czech countryside or simple joy. Each brand, however, approaches this in a slightly different way.
The strongest mark in the history of Czech advertising for milk and dairy products was left by Pribináček and its slogan “Pramen zdraví z Posázaví” (“A source of health from the Posázaví region”), which became famous thanks to the film Ať žijí duchové! The song of the same name turned the dairy dessert into a cultural symbol of childhood:
Video: Pramen zdraví z Posázaví (A source of health from the Posázaví region)
Bobík also relies on a catchy tune in its “Mňam Mňam Bobík” campaign. The simple, memorable motif began to spread among people, and the advert worked more like an internet phenomenon than a polished television spot. Compared with the more refined communication of major dairy brands, this campaign feels more eccentric.
Lipánek works similarly to Pribináček, although its campaign has a somewhat more contemporary tone. Lipánek also targets mainly families and children, emphasising softness, natural ingredients and trust. And children can sing along with it too.
Madeta, which owns the Lipánek brand, often draws in its advertising on the breadth of its product range, Czech origin and quality, presenting itself as a brand for the whole household. Its adverts emphasise tradition, everyday usability and the sense that this is a brand people know and can trust:
Video: Madeta – Madeland
Landscape also plays a very prominent role in Czech adverts for dairy products. Mlékárna Kunín and Mlékárna Hlinsko, with its Tatra brand, build their communication on the idea of pure nature, the countryside and honest origins. Both brands therefore offer viewers not only a product, but also an image of the place it comes from. At a time when consumers are increasingly concerned with the quality and origin of food, this type of advertising is clear and effective.
Hollandia yoghurts, by contrast, rely on quality, clean ingredients and a simpler, more natural style in television advertising. The brand deliberately builds the impression that its yoghurts are honest, authentic and intended for everyone who cares about what they eat.
Cheese brands such as Lučina, Sedlčanský Hermelín, Král Sýrů and Apetito form another interesting group. In advertising, they usually do not work with childhood or milk, but with everyday food, cooking, visits and moments of relaxation. Lučina usually feels fresh and natural, Sedlčanský Hermelín is suited to barbecues, hot meals and gatherings with friends, Král Sýrů builds on softness and a more premium impression, while Apetito focuses on family use. These brands show that dairy advertising does not have to be only about breakfast or children but can also be about balanced and tasty food for adults.
A milk rock opera
We will close today’s celebration of milk and dairy products with a slightly bizarre creation: the twenty-minute rock opera about milk, Battle for Milkquarious. It is exactly the kind of advert that makes you think: “Did someone really make this because of milk?” It combines the overblown aesthetics of rock music videos, musical exaggeration, parody and the classic advertising effort to remind viewers of the benefits of drinking milk. According to Best Ads on TV, it was a story aimed mainly at Californian teenagers, based on saving the town of Milkquarious from a “deadly” milk shortage. The main character is the extravagantly stylised rock hero White Gold, who sets off on a mission.
Video: Battle for Milkquarious
It is worth noting that this project extended beyond the advert itself. It was linked to a scholarship initiative for arts programmes at California public high schools, where students were invited to create their own parody videos inspired by the rock opera.
All things considered
Milk has one advantage: there is no need to introduce it at length — we all know it. That is precisely why creators can afford to do almost anything with it, from sentiment and family breakfasts to talking cats, singing farmers and a rock opera about saving a dairy kingdom. Television adverts often turn milk and dairy products into more than just items in the fridge: they become reminders of childhood, domestic comfort, the countryside, humour and everyday rituals. Sometimes all it takes is a glass on the table; at other times, an entire army of creatives is needed to make viewers crave yoghurt, cheese or plain cocoa. And World Milk Day is a good opportunity to look at this everyday food from a slightly different perspective — not only as a source of nutrients or an agricultural product, but also as a surprisingly rewarding star of television advertising.