Americans, what the devil is this all about? I keep seeing these two words together, often used as some sort of in-joke on the SDMB. Is it some advertising slogan of the US dairy industry?
While you’re at it, how 'bout “It’s what’s for dinner”?
Inquiring antipodean minds…
“Got Milk” is an ad campaign featuring amusing ads that highlight, well, milk. In one of them, a guy gets a radio-trivia phone call for a subject he’s obsessed with, but can’t answer the question because he’s just taken a big bite of a peanut butter sandwich. “Got milk?”
“It’s what’s for dinner” is a tagline for the beef industry, much like “the other white meat” is for the pork industry.
Thanks. I thought as much, but these seem to have caught on in society at large, so I wondered if it was something more. Must me simply the sign of a successful campaign.
Cheers.
If pork’s the other white meat, what’s white meat #1?
Chicken.
I thought ‘It’s whats for dinner’ is the pork slogan? I do know the pork commercials emphasize that it’s quick and easy to make as well as delicious. Reminds me I need to check the website out for some recipes.
I love some of the Got Milk? ads. One of my old faves is a guy walking down the road yakking away on his cell phone being all rude and he finishes the conversation with ‘You’re fired!’ hangs up the phone and laughing to himself he walks right into the path of a semi. Waking up he finds himself in a kitchen with these HUGE (like the size of your head) chocolate chip cookies and he’s stuffing his mouth got chocolate smeared on his face. Opening the fridge he sees it FULL of milk. Smiling because he thinks he’s in heaven he grabs a carton… only to find it empty. None of the cartons have any milk. Got Milk? (with the implication he’s in hell of course… cookies but no milk? gasp)
And turkey. And, well, all poultry, really.
I don’t know if they’re common outside the US, but many big industries have trade associations which work for the best interests of the entire industry, by doing things like political lobbying, proposing standards, and doing PR campaigns. The milk people have been at it forever (remember It does your body good?). But “Got Milk” marked a radical change in this type of marketing, where the trade associations were going for humorous ads instead of emulating public service announcements. So it gave birth to “Beef! It’s what’s for dinner,” and “Ahh, the power of cheeeeese” among other corny (heh) slogans.
No! The best one is where the guy is at the supermarket, and he sneaks up to the counter with a box of Trix cereal. Then the cashier looks at it, smirks and says, “Trix? Aren’t those for kids?” The guy kind of cringes, all embarassed, and then slinks out with his purchase.
He gets home, closes all the curtains, gets out a big bowl and a spoon, and then pours the Trix into the bowl. He sets the milk carton beside the bowl and then reaches up-and unzips his head! It’s the Trix Rabbit, and he’s FINALLY gonna get Trix!
Then he goes to pour the milk in…there’s only a drop left.
Brilliant!
I liked the ones with the distraught Cookie Monster.
So many cookies, but no milk!
I mat well regret asking this but:
What is the Trix Rabbit? And what is Trix?
Yet another ad campaign, a long-running one for a sugary children’s breakfast cereal called “Trix”, featuring a cartoon rabbit who was always trying to get a bowl of the stuff. He was always thwarted by children, who teased him with the tag line “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.”
I made a t-shirt spoofing the beef slogan several months ago:
http://www.cafeshops.com/brix11.9789979
I would hazard a guess that “Got Milk?” is one of the most spoofed ad campaigns ever. I know I’ve used the tagline a couple of times as a graphic design element for various projects.
“Awon Buww!”
Cecil wrote about this sometime ago, though my search failed to turn up the article. The “got milk” and “Beef: It’s what for dinner” ad campagns are paid for by the US government. The purpose is to help promote these domestic industries and thus support farming. There are also ads also air for pork, cheese, orange juice, cotton, and I’m sure other products that I can’t recall at the moment.
In the case of milk, the motivation for the campaign is the unbelievable surplus of milk in this country (over 250,000 tons each year), which the federal government spends billions of dollars to buy. It’s good for farmers, don’t get me wrong, and milk is relatively inexpensive in most parts of the country.
Actually, I recall reading that this campaign, although hugely popular with the public, failed to produce any noticeable increase in milk consuption whatsoever. It goes to show the limits of advertising and the fact that what actually works in advertising and what people like don’t necessarily match. You know those horribly annoying commercials where an obnoxious guy screams at you about a local car dealership, or whatever? No one like those! No one could possibly think anyone likes them. But apparently, they work. 
Both milk and Trix ads have become part of the popular culture. Lucy Liu quotes the Trix commercial in Kill Bill. “Silly rabbit…”
My favorite example of impact is the spoof T-shirt, featuring a picture of Monica Lewinsky, sporting a white moustache, and the caption “Not milk.” 
“Ridiculous Lucky Captain Rabbit King. Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets are for the youth.”
A few years back there was a vampire movie starring Leslie Neilson. One ad campaign had a picture of him with a red liquid moustache, and the caption “Got Blood?”
I saw an old skit from MAD TV yesterday where a guy is in a doctor’s office, and hands the receptionist a sample jar. She takes it from him and locks it in a cabinet behind the desk. He then spies a big plate of chocolate chip cookies on the desk. He takes one and takes a big bite out of it. He starts looking worried, then looks longingly at the cabinet. Then came the caption: “Got Urine?”
Not high-brow humor, I admit.
Not true. As already noted above, these advertising campaigns are entirely run by industry groups.
The “Got Milk?” campaign is a creature of the California Milk Processor Board, which earlier did the famous Milk Is for Every Body campaign. There’s also another group called MilkPEP, which does the milk mustache commercials.
The beef campaign can be found at: http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/
It’s copyright by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and funded by America’s Beef Producers.