The new effort, dubbed “Enter the Dairy Deprogramming Zone,” is a follow-up to last summer’s free media offer, pulling no punches with this opening statement: “Over the past eight years, Big Dairy has spent nearly $2 billion on marketing and lobbying.”
Because the dairy industry has not responded to Oatly’s calls for transparency, the brand “decided to just show up across the street from one of its larger annual lobbying events to expose the facts ourselves,” Lee said. “Moving away from meat and dairy is one of the easiest ways Americans can lower their climate footprints,” although many consumers don’t “understand the true role that the industry plays in our climate crisis.”
The video was shot in June at the 40th anniversary of the IDFA’s ice cream party for D.C. legislators, staff, friends and family members. Oatly’s camera operator and interviewer tried to chat up the crowd, often going on the defensive as uninvited guests and recording the reluctant exchanges for the spot.
“We’re just here to provide a safe space for people,” the interviewer said when questioned about his presence. “A safe space from what?” asked a woman dishing up ice cream. “Safe space from misleading dairy marketing,” he said. “We’re not interested in that,” the woman replied.
Growth in alt milk
The work comes from Oatly’s in-house creative division, the Department of Mind Control, now under new leadership with Lee. A veteran of the company’s European arm, Lee replaces Armando Turco, a former ADWEEK Creative 100 honoree whose updated LinkedIn profile says he is “taking a break from work for the first time since I was old enough to work.” His next move is unspecified.
Oatly’s stunt launches as milk alternatives have continued to solidify their place on shopping lists and in consumers’ diets: 44% of U.S. households purchased plant-based milk in 2023, adding up to nearly 15% of all dollar sales of total milk at retail, easily the largest plant-based food category, according to Good Food Institute.