Episode 10: Got Milk?

Think of the most famous ad of the 90s. Was it a white mustache? A muffled "Aaron Burr"?

In 1993, the dairy industry was in a death spiral until they stopped telling you milk was "healthy" and started showing you what life looked like without it. In this episode of Lies We Bought, Emily breaks down the high-stakes marketing strategy behind the "Got Milk?" phenomenon.

We explore how a wartime surplus led to millions of pounds of cheese hidden in Missouri caves, how "swill milk" almost killed the industry, and why the government eventually turned school cafeterias into a guaranteed customer base. In this video, we discuss: The "Deprivation Strategy": Why the best ads don't sell the product.

The "English Disease" and the secret history of Vitamin D. The Springfield Underground: Why there’s a massive cheese vault in Missouri. Why milk consumption fell even when everyone thought it was healthy.