Milk has been taking a beating for decades, as the article hints. One way to look at it is to analyze all the different occasions for which people might drink m

Milk has been taking a beating for decades, as the article hints. One way to look at it is to analyze all the different occasions for which people might drink milk, and/or the different types of consumers who might consume milk. Then look at the substitutes that have replaced it for those occasions or those people. Here, without any data to support my thinking, are some hypothetical segments: 1) Health nuts. As another poster mentions, many of the fad diets that have swept the country over the past 30-odd years have taken an anti-dairy stance. Milk loses. (Ancillary: breakfast cereal has been taking a big, big hit among health-conscious consumers, and as breakfast cereal goes, so too does the milk that goes with it.) 2) Crunchies. These people have various reasons (health, the environment, etc.), but regardless, they're against processed foods, industrial farms, GMOs, non-organic anything, and so forth. As the various horrors of factory farms have come to light, these people have turned away from milk. 3) Convenience drinkers. Water and soft drinks have edged out milk as a "snack" choice. They keep better, travel better, and to many people, taste better. 4) Kids. Kids have pretty much never liked milk, despite parents' best attempts to force it on them. This is because milk, as a standalone beverage, is revolting. As parents begin to question the purported health benefits of milk, they stop subjecting their children to it. 5) Trend takers. Not health-conscious eaters per se, but rather, the kinds of eaters who just know they can't touch gluten, despite never having been tested for celiac disease. These people take their cues from the health nuts and the crunchies. If you're looking at a food trend from a Crossing the Chasm perspective, the health nuts are the early adopters, and these folks are the followers. They don't set trends, but they'll never pass up the chance to hop on a new bandwagon. CNN said something about dairy, or paleo, or gluten, or whatever, and these people are now religiously opposed to those things. It's half identity politics, and half inchoate desire to make healthier lifestyle choices. In either case, it's half hearted. 6) Ron Burgundy. It's too damned hot. Milk was a bad choice.