“got milk?”
June 17, 2021
Do you recall the “got milk?” advertising campaign that was rolled out in 1993? Apparently milk sales were down nationwide and the campaign was meant to boost sales of milk by focusing not on the benefits of milk, but on the consequences of going without milk.
For example, the first televised spot, and probably best-known ad for “got milk?” featured an on-air trivia contest. A radio listener was eating a sticky peanut butter and jelly sandwich while following along with the radio trivia contest. When the host wants to know who shot Alexander Hamilton, the listener answers the question correctly by saying, “Aaron Burr”. However, without milk to wash down his food, it comes out as “Anon Blurrg” and as a result his answer is unintelligible and he does not win the $10,000 prize. The consequence of not having milk! You can view that commercial here:
By 2014, milk sales soured despite the popular “got milk?” slogan and commercials. Consumers had other low calorie beverage options such as soy, almond, and coconut milk, and thus they pushed the milk carton aside, and the twenty year “got milk?” campaign ended.
However, by August, 2020, just a few months into the pandemic, the “got milk?” campaign made a comeback but with a new twist. Instead of celebrities driving awareness of the campaign, social media influencers are highlighted.
Katie Ledecky, 6-time Olympic Gold Medalist, kicked off the challenge when she posted a video of herself swimming a lap in a pool without spilling a glass of milk perched on her head. The video below went viral and now milk consumers are encouraged to follow Ledecky’s lead by recording a short video pouring a glass of milk and then doing “something amazing” without spilling the milk. Consumers are then encouraged to post the video to social media at #gotmilkchallenge.
However, I think a more important “got milk?” challenge is found in I Peter 2:
1So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
The “got milk?” challenge in these verses is to put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all slander (perhaps the consequence of going without spiritual milk) and to long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God. Like newborn infants, who have an instinctive yearning for their mother’s milk, believers should yearn for the pure milk of the Word and not have to be told to want the milk.
The Word of God is necessary for the growth of the Christian, who should desire it and never grow tired of the truths of the Gospel. To drink the milk of the Word is to taste again and again the goodness (nothing sour here) of the Lord and to experience the amazing and enduring joy of personal fellowship with the Lord, Himself.
“#gotPureMilkchallenge”