$$$ spent on advertising Milk

[GrumpyOne]

Does anyone else think its ironic how much money is being spent on advertising milk, the fact that Canadian's don't get enough calcium, etc, etc, when if they applied the high $ amount spent on advertising to reduce the extortionate cost of milk, then people would just drink more milk?

I think its ridicoulous that chocolate milk is often cheaper than milk. Really? My three year old would happily drink milk but its cheaper for him to drink chocolate milk? And yet you hear so much about an obesity problem...

Thanks for listening to my little rant. Would be interested to know if anyone else thinks the same. In the meantime, I'm off to buy some chocolate milk. 88c at RCSS this week.

[Shwa Girl]

Yup. The milk advertising and the egg advertising. Could do less of that IMO. The prices are high so it's hard for some people to pay those prices -- limited budget.

[dutchmama]

I DO think milk is pricey, I am on the east coast, and the cheapest we can ever get a gallon of milk is $6.63. Chocolate milk is always MORE here! I find that odd that it's less for you. Yesterday at the grocery store, the chocolate milk 2L was 'on sale' for $3.99. It's usually $4.39. That being said, We still buy it. Probably not as much as we would if it was cheaper.

As much as I hate paying that much for milk, we are also part of the agricultural community where we live, and we understand why it is that price (although the middle-man is taking more than there fair share!!) There are so many other agricultural industries that are suffering greatly. If we loose more of this, then I hate to see what the price of meat/dairy will be having to import it from different countries!

Anyways, I see both sides of this one....but I still hate paying so much!!

[Shwa Girl]

If we loose more of this, then I hate to see what the price of meat/dairy will be having to import it from different countries!

I agree. I like Canadian milk and meat. No imports.

[cabmonk]

A little perspective, but did you know coke spends 4 billion on advertising a year. Nothing wrong with milk,etc advertising. They are trying to hold on to their market share with the influx of soy milk, rice milk and others. Its still is a business after all.

[Lucky777s]

I'm not educated in the art of running a business but I am pretty sure that if they spent less on advertising, they wouldn't use the savings to reduce the cost to consumers. I believe they need to have such expenses in order to claim the cost of running a business with the tax man.

I know that most of the money isn't going to the farmer but I do know that it costs an arm and a leg to feed those beasts and that doesn't include all their fancy equipment to extract the milk from them.

Having said all that.... I sure am happy when Food Basics has it on sale and I can use a coupon!!!

[Minou]

With all of the other commercial messages out there, I think it's important to raise the profile of milk. Some households may need the reminder of its importance, especially when it comes to childhood nutrition. I see it as a public health message as much as a commercial one. More milk is probably sold because of the advertising, and dairy producers have had a long history of promoting school milk programs in schools through advertising and incentives. Anyone remember those blue cow erasers from the eighties? If less milk was sold because of a lack of advertising, I really doubt that the price would go down. As for eggs... I think I'd be buying them more frequently if I was really trying to cut back on our grocery budget... lots of good protein and nutrition for a very low price... I mean, you could feed a whole family eggs for a dollar or two (much cheaper than buying meat!), and have a much better meal than you would by eating KD. I think it would be great if egg producers would promote that angle, especially for people in low-income situations.

While I know that some people struggle to afford things, I don't feel like milk is really all that expensive here... seems like 4L costs $4.50 to $5.00 at grocery stores depending on the type of milk it is... it's the same as buying soft drinks at full price. I like that they're advertising healthier alternatives to things like soda.

[KrazE]

Advertising has absolutely nothing to do with the price of milk.

Having lived on a dairy farm for many years in Canada, I can tell you that the system that is set up here is just terrible!

Without going into a long explanation about buying quota, getting paid based on shipping out no more than the quota the farmer has purchased in the year, and in Canada, they get dinged for shipping out more quota than they own (it's different every where else!).

Also, on a bag of white milk @ $4.29, a dairy farmer earns about 38 CENTS from that; that's a number that will hopefully keep people buying Canadian milk.

[lghend]

I miss the days when just making a profit was enough. Now they have to make a killing.

[lghend]

Advertising has absolutely nothing to do with the price of milk.

Having lived on a dairy farm for many years in Canada, I can tell you that the system that is set up here is just terrible!

Without going into a long explanation about buying quota, getting paid based on shipping out no more than the quota the farmer has purchased in the year, and in Canada, they get dinged for shipping out more quota than they own (it's different every where else!).

Also, on a bag of white milk @ $4.29, a dairy farmer earns about 38 CENTS from that; that's a number that will hopefully keep people buying Canadian milk.

That's horrible! We used to have a commercial dairy in our town when I was a child. I assume that local dairies were supplying the milk? All the stores in our area sold this milk. Why would this close down? Would there be no profit in it even though it supplied other communities as well?

[hok2]

I did some research and found this.

The official dairy marketing branch is called MilkPEP - the Milk Processors Education Program. Dairy processors from across the nation pay into the program, and the funds are distributed for a whole slew of marketing initiatives, from PR to promotions and, of course, the got milk? ads and other national media programs.

Milk's main goal is to defend itself against like minded breakfast drinks such as orange juice - currently they are taking a two pronged approach, differentiating between white milk and chocolate milk.

The white milk initiative is called breakfast at home (or B@H) for short - it seeks to get consumers to drink milk with breakfast at home. The strategic thought process behind it is that everyone drinking milk on the go is causing gallon sales at the supermarket to decline, so that's the incremental market share they're chasing.

The chocolate milk initiative is called Refuel, and aims to position chocolate milk as a beverage to drink post-workout. It's been scientifically proven to be a great natural post-workout drink if you're a strenuous exerciser (think Ironmans, marathons, etc.) as it has the perfect carb-protein ratio. Competitiors in this category include Gatorade and Protein Shakes; the goal is to add a new usage occasion to Chocolate Milk so it's not simply considered a tasty beverage for kids.

[KrazE]

That's horrible! We used to have a commercial dairy in our town when I was a child. I assume that local dairies were supplying the milk? All the stores in our area sold this milk. Why would this close down? Would there be no profit in it even though it supplied other communities as well?

The farm I lived on supplied some of it's milk locally to a cheese factory, but no matter where it goes, it is over-seen by the government.

Canadian farmers have to purchase what is called Quota - basically this is a license to sell the annual production from one cow; I think the cost is something like $30,000 PER cow right now, but it could be more. So, if you have a dairy farm with a head of 60 milking cows, you're looking at a cost of about $1.8 million. As the cost of quota keeps going up, more dairy farmers are ceasing operations; it's just not affordable to them any more.

High tariffs are also killing local dairy farms with a tariff of something like 300% on butter (yes, that's three HUNDRED), and this is all about 'supply management'.

Honestly, unless they make changes, dairy farms in Canada are going to become a thing of the past, and everything will be imported from the US or EU.

[PurpleBunny89]

Am I the only one who thinks $2 for a dozen eggs ISN'T expensive? 12 eggs can really go so far for such a small price. That being said, if it went above that price by $1 I would think its a bit much. I have no problem paying $4.29 for 4L of milk because it lasts DH and I about a month because we hardly drink it. I take calcium pills instead because Milk is gross.

[hockeylover]

The funny part to me is how inexpensive pop and juice can be if you get it on sale. i love milk. but it doesnt mean i can always afford to get it. i try my best to count it in at the beginning and if there needs to be a cut to not let it be milk but sometimes its hard to rationalize (especially because im young and without children so im only affecting my own body by not buying it) buying a milk when i can get juice or pop for cheaper if not free..

[dutchmama]

I guess I've seen both sides of the issue. I'm from a farming area in the US, where the dairy farmers regularly were 'dumping milk' because it was worth so little, and they were trying to lower supply to raise price. They were barely surviving.

In Canada, I don't live on a dairy farm, but we own a business that works directly with dairy and other farms. The quota is insanely expensive. I think what it is doing is forcing out the smaller dairy farmers, and making the big ones bigger. We are actually close family friends with some of the largest dairy farmers in our province, and one farm easily supports 3 familys. I do think it is sick the small amount that the farmer gets per litre!!


There has not been a single dairy farm 'go under' in the 10 years I've lived in this province, although there have been some smaller ones sell their quota and convert to other farming. In that same 10 years, the number of hog farms has gone from 250+ down to roughly 25. We have lost our processing plant, and all hogs must be shipped 1000 km away.

I'm not saying that the extent of the government regulation that is in the Dairy industry is good, but I don't know how it would look without it.

Farming is tough in all of North America right now. It makes me nervous for the future of our food supply. I'm afraid it might be something that consumers don't appreciate until it is at a dangerous low