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Got Milk PMS commercials - the murky truth

By: Russell Eaton "Got Milk" refers to the name of an advertising campaign to promote dairy milk. Naturally, it is sponsored by the milk industry. Got Milk came was created by the Californian Milk Process Board in 1993. Although it was originally created to increase milk consumption in the region, it has now grown into an international advertising program.

The Got Milk campaign was launched in the United Kingdom in March 2004. In both the UK and the USA tough competition from the soda drinks industry has reduced milk sales. The move into the UK and other countries is an attempt by the Got Milk campaign to reverse the process.

The 'got milk' ads typically show well known celebrities with a "milk moustache" and exhort you to drink more milk for the sake of your health. The milk moustache ads make promises of strong bones, lower blood pressure and better sports performance. They are displayed just about everywhere, providing millions of people with what unfortunately has become a main source of nutritional information.

But rather than helping, these ads are miss-educating and causing confusion among consumers according to the PCRM (U.S. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).

Some Got Milk ads make reference to PMS (Pre-Menstrual Symptoms) in women, implying that the consumption of dairy milk is somehow helpful in alleviating PMS. Of course, this is completely incorrect. If anything, dairy milk makes you feel bloated, more likely to get a headache, and less healthy and can therefore make the symptoms of PMS worse.

The Got Milk PMS ads were prompted by rsearch carried out by Dr. Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson of the University of Massachusetts (published in the Archives of Internal Medicine). The research showed a "significantly lower risk of developing PMS in women with intakes of vitamin D and calcium from food sources."

It does not follow, however, that milk is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. The opposite is closer to the truth: milk is a very poor source of these nutrients, and there are no studies showing that milk can alleviate PMS in any way.

Most of the milk moustache ads that make health claims are false and misleading, and in violation of federal advertising guidelines, according to a PCRM petition filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July 2000.

PCRM claimed in its petition that an investigation of milk moustache ads showed them to be scientifically purposefully deceptive, unsubstantiated, and harmful advertising. PCRM's petition has been referred by the FTC to the USDA for investigation because, believe it or not, it is actually the USDA that is promoting these ads on behalf of the private dairy industry.