I left the grocery store with 5 gallons of organic milk under the cart yesterday, and a man walked by and said in a tone that sounded judgmental, “That’s an awful lot of milk.” I shot back, “I’ve got an awful lot of boys” for no good reason. What do I care what he thinks of how much milk I buy? Technically, I only have two boys, but they have lots of friends who are quite comfortable going in my refrigerator any time they want.

 

Milk is a big deal in my house. Running out is an even bigger deal. When milk is running low, the boys know not to finish it off, leaving no milk for their father’s morning coffee. One of the most common texts that fly between my phone and my husband’s is “Pick up a gallon of milk on your way home.” If I make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, there had better be at least a half gallon of milk available for dunking and drinking, or the boys and my husband may turn on me — even though I just baked them a batch of cookies.

 

All this is to say that advertising agencies don’t need to convince my family to buy milk. Maybe they did their job well enough in 1993 when they started the famous “Got milk?” campaign. (Can you believe that campaign has been around for 17 years? That’s a long time for one advertising campaign to survive.)

 

The agency that created the “Got milk?” campaign has finally changed it up a bit with the introduction of Mootopia — a “milky, magical land” where the overflow of milk may cause as many problems as running out of milk in my house does.

 

 

The website VisitMootopia.com gives a sneak peek of the above commercial that I found in its entirety on YouTube. The Mootopia campaign officially starts April 5, when “all will be revealed.” According to the New York Times, a series of commercials like the one above will have men unable to end an arm-wrestling contest because they are too strong from milk and a dentist who can’t give away free cleanings because no one needs them.

 

The ads are meant to tout the basic benefits of drinking milk without listing them dryly. Consumers will know — without ever being told directly — that drinking milk gives them shiny hair, big muscles and healthy teeth.

 

 

There is nothing about this first Mootopia commercial that strikes me as relatable. I'm not interested in going to that "milky, magical, land." Of course, I'll still buy milk, but I might change the channel on these commercials.