Oat milk brand Oatly took to the streets of Washington D.C. last month to protest at the 40th annual ice cream social held by the International Dairy Foods Association.
In a documentary-style video helmed by its in-house creative division, the Oatly Department of Mind Control, the brand sent a team to interview D.C. politicians, interns, and citizens as they ate free ice cream.
Bringing up the dairy industry's massive carbon emissions and water usage, Oatly's reporter challenged Big Dairy's political influence, asking hard-hitting questions like: "do you think it's weird that Big Dairy gives out free ice cream to politicians?"
Going even further, the brand set up an Oatly-branded ice cream truck labelled as the Dairy Deprogramming Zone that gave away cups of dairy-free soft serve ice cream to create a safe space from "misleading dairy marketing."
Things got heated with the arrival of the police, though the team was safe from being arrested.
Oatly North America Executive Vice President and Executive Creative Director Michael Lee highlighted the brand's marketing strategy and preference for tension in a statement to Adweek, citing the urgency of global warming as inspiration for stirring up controversy.
The company's stance on environmental issues, combined with clever marketing, have launched it into the spotlight many times before.
View this post on Instagram
Oatly is widely known for buying out billboard and newspaper ads that directly challenge the dairy industry to disclose its climate footprint numbers — and it seems to be on a hot streak of marketing successes.
This year alone, it has hosted a fitness class with Bowen Yang, collaborated with the MLB, and even created a pop-up store-slash-installation called "The Fountain of Youth" for Milan Design Week in April.
View this post on Instagram
It also maintains a website called FckOatly.com that lists down all of its previous scandals, aiming to get ahead of haters by taking accountability for past mistakes.
Funnily enough, the website also redirects to a site called FckFckOatly.com, which lets haters express their hate through meaningless clicks.
The rabbit hole goes five sites deep, each featuring a click counter ending with the gratuitous FckFckFckFckFckOatly.com.
The Rise of Oat Milk
The brand's seemingly endless slew of viral marketing efforts seems to be contributing to the growing impact that plant-based milk companies have on consumers.
A study published by Global Market Insights valued the international plant-based milk industry at $15.9 billion in 2023.
Meanwhile, Good Food Insitute reported that:
- 15% of total U.S. milk sales in 2023 were for plant-based milk
- 44% of U.S. households purchased plant-based milk in 2023
- 10% of households purchased plant-based ice cream and frozen novelties in 2023
GFI also noted that households with one or more children are more likely to spend on plant-based milk products.
With dairy production accounting for approximately 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions, Oatly continues its efforts to bring the ill effects of the dairy industry to light.
