Sean Whalen
Directed by Michael Bay and starring Sean Whalen, it was the first commercial in the “Got Milk?” advertising campaign. The ad depicts a history buff, portrayed by Whalen, who is unable to audibly voice the answer of a radio contest because he runs out of milk to wash out the peanut butter sandwich stuck in his mouth.

1993
Perhaps the most famous commodity brand campaign in history, “Got Milk?” launched its first spot in 1993. The ad featured a hilarious storyline involving a Hamilton-Burr history buff who couldn’t answer a Hamilton-Burr radio contest question because his mouth was full of PB&J. If only he had a glass of milk!

It was 1993. Sales of milk were sagging both in California and nationwide. Milk industry advocates had spent much of the 1980s promising that “Milk Does a Body Good,” with an ad campaign focused on its calcium and protein benefits. Consumers knew milk was good for them.

The Board was funded by an assessment collected by the California Department of Food & Agriculture. CMPB members paid three cents for each gallon of milk they processed.

The campaign halted the decline of milk sales that had plagued the industry for the last 20 years. In 1994, 755 million gallons of milk were sold in California compared to the previous year of 740 million gallons. The $23 million spent on advertising saved the industry an expected $255 million.

SHINDIG
Got Milk TV Commercial, ‘Good Morning’ Song by SHINDIG, Chief Wakil – iSpot.tv.

“Got Milk?” is a catch phrase used in advertisements paid for by the dairy industry to get people to buy and drink milk in the United States. The campaign used pictures of famous people with “milk mustaches” in order to encourage milk drinking.

Getting people to increase their milk consumption now is harder than ever. While the original Got Milk? campaign didn’t disappoint and even halted the decline of milk consumption temporarily, it ultimately failed to achieve its goal of getting people to drink more milk.

The “got milk?” campaign continues in California and the “got milk?” trademark is being licensed to food and merchandise companies for U.S. and international sales. The campaign has been credited with greatly increasing milk sales in California, although not necessarily nationwide. “Got Milk” advertising on a barn in Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Some Got Milk? ads varied the slogan to say, “Got Chocolate Milk?” In February 2014, MilkPEP announced that it would discontinue licensing the slogan for its advertising in favor of a new tagline named “Milk Life”. Despite this, the California Milk Processor Board (the creators and owners of the trademark) continue to use it.

From 1994 to 2005, ads appeared in California directed at Hispanic consumers, using the tagline “Familia, Amor y Leche” (“Family, Love and Milk”), created by Anita Santiago Advertising. In 2005, the Spanish-language campaign was awarded to ad agency Grupo Gallegos, who changed the tagline to “toma leche” or “drink milk”.

The voice saying “Got Milk?” in most of the nationwide television commercials is that of veteran American voiceover actor Denny Delk. Other narrators have occasionally been used.