# Got Milk Got Milk? is a 1993 California Milk Processor Board ad campaign whose two-word tagline became one of the most parodied advertising slogans in American culture. The snowclone Got X? spread across billboards, T-shirts, and websites for decades, spawning everything from Got Rice? shirts to PETA protest ads. ## Overview Got Milk? is a two-word advertising tagline created for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993 to push cow's milk sales in the United States[1]. The line spawned two distinct visual formats: a run of TV spots showing people choking on dry food without a glass nearby, and a long-running print series of celebrity portraits sporting a painted-on milk mustache[3]. The slogan quickly outgrew its original purpose and turned into a snowclone, with copycats swapping in almost any noun after the word Got[3]. Instances of Got X? kept appearing on shirts, bumper stickers, insecticide ads, and protest billboards well into the 2000s, which is what pushed the phrase from ad copy into recognizable meme territory[3]. ## How It Spread Parodies started showing up almost immediately. Fortune Magazine documented Got Death? ads for Combat insecticide and a Got Porn? adult-bookstore sign as early as 1998, and the California Milk Processor Board reportedly welcomed the knockoffs as free press[3]. In September 2000, a Newgrounds parody song popularized the Asian-American pride variant Got Rice?, and by July 2005 the Board itself was selling a poster listing 100 different Got X? parody phrases[3]. The snowclone also drew lawyers. In August 2000, PETA put up Wisconsin billboards showing New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with a milk mustache above the line Got Prostate Cancer?, timed to his own cancer treatment; Giuliani called the ad tasteless and threatened to sue for using his likeness without permission[1]. PETA pulled the boards and issued a written apology to Giuliani in September 2000, saying the target had been the dairy industry rather than the mayor personally[2]. PETA then launched a Got Pus? campaign about mastitis in dairy cows, and in December 2007 lawyers for the California Milk Processor Board sent a cease-and-desist letter alleging trademark infringement[3]. The original slogan was formally retired on February 24th, 2014, when the National Milk Industry replaced Got Milk? with a new tagline, Milk Life, aimed at nutritional messaging[3]. The Got X? construction long outlived the ad buy that spawned it and still turns up on merch and in headline writing. ## How to Use The Got X? template is a straight snowclone: keep the word Got, add a question mark, and swap in any noun. Usage typically pairs the phrase with an image, often a milk-mustache-style portrait or a product shot, and the humor usually comes from how absurd, dark, or niche the substituted noun is (Got Rice?, Got Pus?, Got Death?). ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Got Milk? Got Milk? is a US advertising tagline launched by the California Milk Processor Board in 1993 that became a widely parodied snowclone in the Got X? format[3]. ### Where did Got Milk come from? Ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners created it for the California Milk Processor Board, and the first Michael Bay directed TV spot aired on October 29th, 1993[3]. ### What does Got Milk mean? Literally it asked viewers whether they had milk on hand, but as a meme the Got X? snowclone became a plug-and-play punchline for any noun, from Got Rice? shirts to PETA's Got Pus? campaign[3]. ### How do you use Got Milk? People swap in a new noun after the word Got and pair it with a themed image, often mimicking the milk-mustache print ads that the National Milk Processor Board began running in 1995[3]. ### Is Got Milk still popular? The original slogan was retired on February 24th, 2014 when the industry switched to Milk Life, though the Got X? snowclone kept getting reused on merch and in headlines afterward[3]. ## References 1. [https://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/25/news/mn-10343]() 2. [https://www.dairynetwork.com/doc.mvc/PETA-apologizes-for-Got-Milk-parody-0001]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/got-milk]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSsswr6z9Y]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/got-milk Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library