How America Remembers Milk
- The “Got Milk?” campaign was started in 1993 by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners
- It was made for the California Milk Processor Board initially, eventually spreading to a national level
- The campaign was retired from use in the national level in 2014; now only California uses the campaign
Original Design
The original design is what I would describe as being very minimalistic. It features a young Dennis Rodman, with his many tattoos and his eccentric style, showing off his body. The advertisement uses the lines of his body to draw us in, with the three main focus points being his hair, his mustache, then the text written. It is simple, as to not overload the eyes.
Original Color
The colors here in this ad campaign are simple, as for the most part there are three different colors dominantly used.
- Brown: Rodman’s skin color is the main and most dominant color seen in this advertisement. It gives great contrast to his hair and to his milk mustache, as well as the text on his torso.
- Green: Known for his different sense of style on and off the basketball court, his green hair is used in the text, “I’m not the boy next door.” It shows us his identity as well as his rebel-like nature.
- White: The background, milk mustache, and the text are the instances of white in this advertisement. The white contrasts with his skin color, grabbing our eyes. It also goes with the minimalist approach that this advertisement has.
Original Typography
The typography used in the Got Milk? campaign has now become famous and unanimous with the advertisements. Almost all of the advertisements used in the campaign use the same typography, allowing us as a viewer to identify them quicker. The typography used is mostly sans serif, with the “MILK” being a very large sans serif, almost a slab serif.
I decided to recreate the advertisement with an athlete from our time: Lebron James. Here is how it went.
Recreated Design
I tried to follow most of the design traits that I saw in the original, such as using his body lines to guide and maintain our eyes into where the advertisement is. Lebron doesn’t have quite the style as Rodman has, so I figured a photo which displays his many tattoos would work hand in hand.
Recreated Color
I tried to find a picture with some more colors, but I believe this picture was the best I could find while following the minimalist approach taken in the original advertisement. Lebron’s skin color along with the dark ink of his tattoos allow for the white text to have a nice contrast and legibility.
Recreated Typography
I tried to mimic the original style of the text, all the while drawing inspiration from other advertisements from the Got Milk? campaign. A nice and simple sans serif font being used for the main body text, while the “got milk?” text is inspired by the original font used in the campaigns, also sans serif.
I believe that the Lebron James advertisement could definitely run today as Lebron is one of the most prominent athletes on the planet. With his example and prominence in the world today, I believe that he could inspire and motivate almost everybody, including especially teenagers and young adults, to purchase and consume dairy.
Isaac Briggs 