Justice Is Served (With A Glass Of Milk)

You know what I just do not understand? Why there is all this hate in the world about those little 10 second milk commercials.



They are so funny! Maybe this is just my kind of humour. Don't get me wrong, I understand why some people are annoyed by them (or I like to think that I do); they are very fast-paced and they have some pretty loud sounds like screaming or roaring, and that same repetitive cowbell and moo sound at the end. They are so fast-paced, in fact, that they go by in less time than is allotted for some minds to process what they are depicting. To be honest, I find them stimulating like a brain puzzle, and it is a fun challenge to use the small amount of time to figure out what sort of super-power is being given to unsuspecting people through their consumption of milk.

Not only that, but the way that the commercials themselves are made (using shadow puppets, collage, claymation, etc) in various ways is very inventive. It kind of reminds me of the PS3 game Little Big Planet, in its use of different materials and media to create a fun, playful environment.

And then of course, there is the message behind the commercials themselves. We all need to drink more milk, didn't you watch closely enough? While milk may not give you the ability to turn yourself into an exoskeleton or blow birthday cake frosting onto your poor mother's face, it does have a lot of nutritional value that, I know firsthand, teenagers such as myself are not taking advantage of.

According to The Devils Den, these commercials have been running since early 2008. Perhaps the mere fact that they have been playing for so long is a testament to their originality and cleverness. I for one remember commercials that were well constructed and planned, and were actually interesting to watch. Commercials these days are either boring and repetitive, or they suck out the good ideas of others until they are reduced to nothing. It's nice to see a change in the endless cycle of car adverts and over-the-counter drug warnings.

These commercials were produced by Head Gear Animation for the Dairy Farmers of Canada, a national policy and organization which lobbies and promotes Canada's 12,965 dairy farms. The DFC attempts to create a world with a place for the Canadian dairy industry today, and in the future. With those sights in mind, it only follows that their target audience should be those people who may not be benefitting as much as they should from dairy products. I speak, of course, of children and teenagers, who are swayed by programming into making their choices. If they can be swayed by movie theater advertisements into drinking Coca-Cola, similar movie theater advertisements can create a foil of Coca-Cola if they advertise nutritional and healthy products.

Not only are these advertisements well put together and a joy to watch, but they contain a very important and positive message meant for the youth of today. When you've emptied your glass of the two and a half minutes at the top of the post, you can watch a whole slew of the commercials here.