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Aubrey Plaza Is the Unfortunate New Face of the Milk Wars
- brap 4y agoAlmost every single person drinks cow milk, get over it
- 64operator 4y ago[flagged]
- kredd 4y agoI think the problem is, cow milk alternatives are becoming a problem for established corporations, since the younger generation isn’t 100% into milk. Demographics problems basically, if your older generation keeps dying, younger ones are not getting in, you lose in revenue and profits.
- Raed667 4y ago> 65% of adults worldwide are affected by lactose malabsorption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance
- creatonez 4y agoIt's dropping steadily. Make sure to "get over" that, too, because some changes to consumer preferences are going to be impossible to bend back to an upward trend. This process of decline in popularity brought to its conclusion is why millennials and Gen Z won't any time soon be eating weird savory gelatin dishes, bizarre Great Depression era recipes, or processed meats other than pepperoni, salami, and sausage. I think mechanically-separated chicken nuggets are probably at the same stage of this process that cow milk is at right now.
- marcinzm 4y ago>Almost every single person drinks cow milk, get over it You mean the milk industry should get over it and stop making weird commercials?
- tecleandor 4y agoAlthough I'm very against the silliness of the "milk is a white poison" crowd, it's important to know that lactose tolerance is mostly found in white people from north European origin. Other ethnicities have way higher levels of intolerance. Asian, Native Americans, African Americans... usually have 70-95% of lactose intolerance. https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/live-well/2017/07/lactose-intolerance/ https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/live-well/2...
- felurx 4y agoAside from that just being plain wrong, depending on who you include in "every single person": And that's a problem. Milk production causes lots of GHG emissions and is generally quite resource-intensive. (And also quite cruel for the most part, but apparently that argument doesn't count for many.) We would do well as a species to reduce our milk consumption.
- Mistletoe 4y ago> “Aubrey, no!” screamed one TikToker, narrating the Wood Milk campaign video. “Why on earth are you getting in bed with ‘Got Milk?’ Nobody likes milk—like, literally nobody.” This is literally incorrect. I like milk.
- hackernewds 4y agoLike? I LOVE MILK
- OJFord 4y agoAt the point where the target audience is aware of your campaign and against it like that, it's pretty futile isn't it? I can't see how you convince people to buy your milk by essentially arguing about it.
- anthony_d 4y agoI’d say someone passionately screaming they don’t like milk is absolutely not the target. Ads are for the neutral or ambivalent.
- 64operator 4y ago[flagged]
- atleastoptimal 4y agoWhat evidence do you have that Bon Appetit is colluding with the World Economic Forum to convince its readers to give up beef and eat the bugs?
- 64operator 4y agoTheir own subject matter, snark, and I’m not going to bother checking ownership to see if the people who own them fly to Davis but I can easily assume they do.
- MarvinYork 4y agoAs the last paragraph says: I would definitely try wood milk.
- OJFord 4y agoMaple syrup, (other) sugar(s).
- vineyardmike 4y agoOk so you joke but there’s a product I discovered recently called Maple Butter or Maple cream and it’s amazing and based on the syrup.
- throwaway2990 4y agoI have to find these! Never heard of them but definitely want to try!
- OJFord 4y agoI wasn't joking, they are the milk of their respective trees.
- red-iron-pine 4y agoMore like the blood of the respective trees.
- harryf 4y agoNutrition tip of the day: if someone is spending serious ad money to try to get you to eat or drink something, don’t. What ever it is. Don’t. It’s not going to be good for you Once upon a time consumers were being encouraged to “drink radium water” https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-flash-radium-elixir-fad-cure-cocktails-0304-20180220-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec... … as a species we have not become significantly smarter since then
- kikokikokiko 4y agoReal milk is bad for you now? Talk about being influenced by propaganda.
- Karuma 4y agoIt's always been bad for you.
- kikokikokiko 4y agoTell that to the Massai, that live basically on a diet of milk, meat and blood. Just because you wish it to be bad it doesn't change reality my dude.
- throwaway2056 4y agoComparing hn-ers lifestyle/needs to that of Massai? not the best idea.
- kikokikokiko 4y agoIt's indifferent to the question. Some food is either healthy for human consumption or it's not. The argument is: if a population of humans exist that makes milk a very substantial portion of their diet, and is perfectly fine, arguing that it's bad for humans is complete stupidity.
- 4y ago
- anigbrowl 4y ago“Aubrey, no!” screamed one TikToker, narrating the Wood Milk campaign video. “Why on earth are you getting in bed with ‘Got Milk?’ Nobody likes milk—like, literally nobody.” Oh the bovinity There's some OK analysis further in, though I think they overlook the impact of demographic changes, lactose intolerance, and some other factors. The main problem for US milk providers is that most milk sold in the US is not very good. Farmers like Holstein cows which give maximum yield but the milk is not very creamy. If you can get milk from Jersey cows it's like night and day - big gobs of cream floating in it, and you can appreciate how milk functions as food. Don't get me started on 2% milk, which should simply not exist. As so often, profits are shrinking because an industry got greedy and took up the pursuit of the lowest common denominator instead of the highest common factor. See also: journalism.
- asah 4y agoBut cheese is fine. #hypocrisy
- worthless-trash 4y agoBut.. I love milk. To be fair it is Australian milk, I don't know the difference.
- echelon 4y agoCow milk is a battleground topic for global warming and climate change. Gen Z has been encouraged to ditch milk to cut back on industrial cattle farming and methane emissions. They're also told that farming cattle is inhumane. The milk alternatives (almond, etc.) have been framing it this way commercially, but there is also a lot of grassroots campaigning.
- mytailorisrich 4y agoI suspect that local milk is better for the environment (or less bad depending on how you look at it) than almond milk in most cases: By far the largest producer of almonds is the USA, I think California mostly, which in itself has a large environmental impact, not least because of the water required. I am in the UK so I can reasonably assume that a lot of the almond milk I see in supermarkets comes from Californian almonds somehow shipped half across the world, whereas there are cows within walking distance from my home. And, of course, in any case there is no actual dietary need for people to drink either milk or milk alternatives (though most people here would argue that milk is required in tea...) Frankly, this is no more than commercial interests vs. other commercial interests and most people are not interested in complexity, they want simple 'solutions' to feel good.
- dathos 4y agoLooking at the comments it seems like most are just out of touch with gen z (or whatever gen) as big milk is. Cow milk is for baby cows.
- malermeister 4y agoCow milk is a part of human culture that has enabled us to settle in places where we otherwise couldn't have. There's a reason lactose tolerance in Scandinavia is so high. In Winter, you can't get enough calories from crops. The only thing you have is inedible (to you) grass and bushes. Cattle is a way to convert that to something that can provide calories to you. The lactose intolerant in those places have been wiped out by millenia of natural selection.
- marcinzm 4y agoAnd is it still used for that purpose? If not then I'm not sure why it matters what it was used for before?
- malermeister 4y agoBecause it created an entire culture around it, our people's history. Parmigiano Reggiano was loved by Boccaccio already. Homer's Odyssey talks of what we would call Feta today. Egyptian murals detail cheesemaking. Today, too, dairy is an important aspect of many cultures. > Sandra Ott’s fascinating ethnography of Basque shepherds (Ott 1981) reveals much about the central role cheese can have in everyday life. In the remote French Basque Pyrenean village of Sainte-Engrâce, the cheeses that local syndicates of shepherds produce from their mountain huts takes so much care and attention that the resulting product is treated both metaphorically and ritually as their “children”. The formation of both babies and mountain cheeses alike are seen as analogous processes in the local worldview: “men’s generative creativity in procreation as in cheesemaking is believed to convey not only form but also identity. Basque cheeses, no less than children, have paternity and come from patrilineages (Paxson 2013: 52)”. https://hraf.yale.edu/the-social-life-of-cheese/ https://hraf.yale.edu/the-social-life-of-cheese/ Dairy products aren't just food. They're millenia old culture and identity.
- gsatic 4y agoI skimmed through it a few days ago, and didnt even realize it was an ad. Probably was paying too much attention to Aubrey.
- dexwiz 4y agoOne of my favorite Parks and Rec scenes is an influencer selling Beef Milk. They really missed a great opportunity to turn milk into a luxury product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIW2tBpnDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIW2tBpnDI
- thinkingemote 4y agoAs a drink a pint of milk is cheaper than bottled water.
- bambax 4y agoDrinking raw milk seems to be a very American thing? I eat cheese and yogourts, but I have never drank raw milk in a glass, and don't think I have ever seen anyone else do it in real life. It looks really bizarre (and frankly, kind of gross).
- Tsiklon 4y agoRaw milk is frequently used to describe non-pasturised milk - this of course shouldn’t be drunk unless you know exactly where it’s from. A glass of milk isn’t so strange here in the U.K. I occasionally see people drinking from pint cartons, and occasionally do so myself when I’m walking to work. But of course the strangeness is likely to depend on demographics of lactose tolerance where you are. Here lactose intolerance is relatively uncommon among the majority
- bambax 4y agoAh sorry, I didn't mean non-pasteurized, just meant "liquid milk with nothing in it" (as opposed to, say, a milkshake). I'm French and it seems very uncommon here, but not related to lactose intolerance since most people eat cheese. It's probably a cultural thing. Maybe it has something to do with temperature and ancient methods of conservation? Milk goes bad very fast, whereas some cheese can be kept for a very long time.
- jfengel 4y agoIn the US, milk is usually seen as a beverage for children. Adults will consume it with breakfast cereal, but an adult ordering a glass of plain milk to drink would be seen as a bit silly. It stems from the early 20th century nutrition efforts, where children were thought to need to be convinced to eat enough. (Sounds bizarre here in the 21st century. I believe it has to do with failure of some children to thrive, often due to things like gluten intolerance or other disorders.) Milk was portrayed (by its producers) as absolutely critical to children's health, leading us to subsidize its production. I can't speak to other countries; I don't know how much milk is consumed in Europe or elsewhere. But Americans grow up drinking milk, and don't think of anything wrong with that. Adults tend to consume it with something else (coffee, cereal), but it's still seen as a major source of calcium, especially for women. (It's not necessary; plenty of cultures survive without it. But it's good for you, despite obnoxious propaganda to the contrary. I'm a supporter of veganism and think we should all consume less animal products, but I think that's made harder by PETA telling outright lies.)
- jonathanstrange 4y agoI'm with her. Once proponents of allegedly more ecological alternative products come up with their own names, I'll start considering them. Not being able to market their products on their own merits and instead piggybacking on popular categories like milk, steak, meat, burger, etc., usually just means that you won't get what you're looking for.
- crummy 4y agoWikipedia says 'In English, the word "milk" has been used to refer to "milk-like plant juices" since 1200 CE' so I think that boat sailed a long time ago.
- tgv 4y agoAs an argument, that's rather thin. You'd need to show that it has been used "often" over the last decade or so to argue that it is common usage. That said, the use of coconut milk would suffice to prove your point. Steak, burger, meat, etc., don't fall in this category, but personally, I find vegan burger more understandable than the technically/conventionally more precise plant-based patty. It also doesn't distract from the original word: if something is called burger, you can be pretty sure it's meat.
- silisili 4y agoI'm not against that definition, but neither soybeans nor almonds produce any 'milk-like plant juices.'
- tecleandor 4y agoSoybean, almond, rice, tiger nut... milks are basically the product and some extra water, and the result is milk-like.
- malermeister 4y agoBut that's not a juice then. It's plant solids dissolved/emulsified in water. "Juice" would mean that the liquid itself came from the plant.
- JamesHinnek 4y agoThese people are just outdoors for whoever pays them more.
- artogahr 4y agoHere's a 5 minute video that would explain why the newer generations are so mad about the unethical practices of Dairy industry. I know it opened my eyes: https://youtu.be/UcN7SGGoCNI https://youtu.be/UcN7SGGoCNI
- zuminator 4y agoJust going by the numbers cited in the article, milk is almost 6 times as popular in the US as milk alternatives. Let's round "almost 6" down to 5. That would mean milk has 5/6 of the milk-like market. It further goes on to claim that milk consumption is down by 20% among Gen-Z compared to the average. 20% less is 80% or 4/5. So milk's popularity with Gen-Z is 4/5 of 5/6 which equals 2/3. In other words, milk is still twice as popular among Gen-Z as all the other milk-likes combined. That's certainly a relative decline but it's far from the "nobody likes milk anymore" tone of the article.
- LeoNatan25 4y ago“Big Milk” and “Big Dairy” should be enough to tell you everything you need to know about the blogger that wrote this “article”.
- edanm 4y agoShould it? "Big [X]" is a fairly common pattern of speech nowadays, to the point that I don't think it necessarily has negative connotations. Or rather, it has negative connotations about the [X], but shouldn't give you negative connotations about the person using the phrase, since almost everyone uses that phrase.
- LeoNatan25 4y agoPerhaps I’m not used to reading US opinion pieces, masquerading as articles?
- helsinkiandrew 4y agoBut the issue that the dairy industry has is that milk consumption is going down at an increasing rate. As Gen-Z gets older and have children that they don't feed dairy milk to and the cream drinking Boomers die out it will become a much bigger problem. https://thebeet.com/is-it-embarrassing-to-order-dairy-milk-at-a-coffee-shop-gen-z-thinks-so/ https://thebeet.com/is-it-embarrassing-to-order-dairy-milk-a... “Nearly half (49 percent) felt ashamed to order dairy in public in front of their peers,” the Arla press release states. “Although the data showed that 70 percent of Gen Z would prefer to continue to drink dairy, an alarming 57 percent plan to give it up in the next year. Almost a third (29 percent) even admitted to only ordering dairy alternatives when in public, reverting to their favored choice of dairy when in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
- knorker 4y ago> Nobody likes milk—like, literally nobody. If that were true then you wouldn't need to scream it so hard. If people didn't like it, it wouldn't sell, and they'd stop making it. But it's great! I love milk. Cold. Hot. As-is. In pancakes. Etc. Alt Milks? Do I want to drink a bag of sugar with some liquid you managed to squeeze out of a root, after much processing and who knows what chemicals? No. No I do not.
- fwlr 4y agoThe “you can’t call it milk” argument was funny when the alternative being offered was “nut juice”, but it’s a dumb hill to die on as a serious proposition. I’m a barista and these alternatives resemble milk, they behave very similarly to milk, etc. In my opinion the substitution is good enough that they can claim the name of milk; the major difference is in nutrition value and taste. (Some intuition pumps for my point of view: “which category does it fit in - milk, juice, water, or soda?” and “which tastes more like milk - oat milk, or non-fat chocolate milk?”)
- andrewinardeer 4y agoIs zero alcohol beer actually beer?
- fwlr 4y agoI also pour beer (multi-talented, I know) and my opinion is yes, it is beer. Most common types of beer are between 3% (typical mid-strength “crisp” beers start here) and 7% (typical IPAs top out here), but you also have light beers down at 2% and imperial stouts up at 12%. Specially brewed craft beers go as high as 20%, I don’t see why it would stop being beer if you go as low as 0%. Where this might get contentious is that zero alcohol beer is made the same way as beer but doesn’t serve the same purpose (inebriation), while oat milk is made a different way to milk but does serve the same purpose. I’m of the opinion that you only need one of the two out of {same purpose, same production} to use the same name.
- gilbetron 4y agoGuinness Zero tastes almost identical to regular Guinness - I'd definitely consider it beer.
- nunez 4y agothey are made from yeast, hops and barley, so yes they are actually beer it's like how decaf coffee is still coffee
- drewcoo 4y agoI'd like to think that nut butters set a precedent, thus nut milks should be a thing.
- throwaway2990 4y agoWould love to know why this got killed from the front page. It was 3rd and now doesn’t appear in the first 5 pages of search.
- perilunar 4y ago"Got Milk?" seems a bit personal. I might ask a new mother that if I knew her really well, but it seems a bit rude otherwise. Pretty strange for an advertising slogan.
- nickthegreek 4y agoIt was the biggest milk ad campaign of all time, starting in 1993 to present time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_Milk%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_Milk%3F
- nunez 4y agoWow, that's super disappointing, especially since alternative diary products are actually good now. Whatever she got paid, it's not enough to absorb the backlash she's going to get here.