Ice Cream (Anti) Social: Oatly Crashes Big Dairy Event to Talk Climate Change

Oatly doesn’t mind getting the cold shoulder from Big Dairy. In fact, the brand provoked a frosty response—then relished in it—by crashing an ice cream social sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association recently in Washington, D.C.

Capturing sound bites and awkward interactions with attendees, an Oatly video crew tried to convince Capitol Hill denizens to leave the outdoor party and sample the brand’s “propaganda-free soft serve” at a nearby food truck labeled a “dairy deprogramming zone.”

Event organizers were less than pleased. The police showed up, providing a splash of light drama for Oatly’s spot. (No arrests were reported, although some Oatly signage had to be relocated.)

“Tension like this is worth it to us,” Michael Lee, executive vice president and executive creative director of Oatly North America, told ADWEEK. “As our planet continues to warm, it’s imperative that we take actions to do better by it, and that’s why we decided to push the needle a bit further here.”

The resulting documentary-style video aims to call attention to the environmental impact of animal-based products like cow’s milk and the influence of Big Dairy on the country’s lawmakers.

It is yet another chapter in the ongoing bitter battle between dairy and various plant-based food marketers, which has featured celebrity appearances from Aubrey Plaza and Queen Latifah, public callouts on sustainability and semantic tangles over what should be considered “real” milk.

Poking the bear

Perennially cheeky Oatly has been outspoken on environmental issues in the past, buying print ads and billboards about one year ago in New York and Los Angeles challenging dairy marketers to disclose their carbon footprint.

The brand offered free ad space for those who would agree (there were no takers). Oatly—which says its original oat milk has a 49% lower climate impact than cow’s milk—now shares a full list of its products’ climate footprint on its website and via some packaging.

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.

While its faux meat counterparts have struggled lately, milk substitutes have grown into a nearly $3 billion business in the U.S., according to a report from GFI and Spins. A separate study, from the Plant Based Foods Association, found that plant-based milk sales increased 4.2% over the past two years.

The numbers are still small for plant-based ice cream and frozen novelties, with 10% of households buying those products, per GFI.

Conventional milk (from cows) remains the entrenched leader by far, bringing in $15.8 billion in sales, per IRI data from 2023. And high-profile campaigns continue to come from groups such as the California Milk Processor Board and the Milk Processor Education Program, known as MilkPEP, using famous faces and aggressive messaging to prop up the segment.