Switzerland is losing interest in cow's milk - marketing should fix it
Milk consumption in Switzerland has been declining for years and is currently reaching new lows. Once again, the milk lobby is trying to polish up the image of cow's milk with the help of marketing.
The SonntagsZeitung is based on figures from the industry association Swissmilk. In 1950, the annual per capita consumption was still 233 kilograms. In 2017, it was only 57 kilograms. The aversion to milk in Switzerland is already having serious consequences for health: paediatricians and nutritionists are reporting malnourished children because parents are forbidding them to drink cow's milk - on the assumption that the children are allergic to dairy products, for example. Christine Brombach, professor and nutrition expert at the ZHAW, says that the debate about lactose intolerance has been slowing down milk consumption for around ten years.
Added to this is the trend towards low-carb diets and veganism in particular. Many people are now avoiding the consumption of cow's milk for ethical reasons. Animal Rights, for example, criticizes that the image of the happy cow spread in advertising is not true. In fact, milk production - as with all animal products - is associated with great animal suffering.
Milk advertising is said to be misleading
At the new advertising campaign The Swissveg association was also disturbed by Swissmilk's advertising and therefore lodged a complaint with the Commission for Fair Trading (SLK) in March. The reason: the advertising was misleading and did not correspond to reality. The association lists on the advertising website ten points in which the campaign conveys a false image. The SLK's verdict is still pending.
To polish up the battered image of milk, marketing and advertising are to help once again. The milk lobby has been trying to do this for the last ten years and, according to the SonntagsZeitung, has invested no less than 200 million francs in marketing. For example, milk bars were set up at open airs and a milk day was launched in schools. Swissmilk also set up the largest online recipe collection in Switzerland and ran various campaigns featuring the Lovely cow.
The efforts showed little success. "A lasting effect in terms of consumer behavior has not been observed," the Federal Council stated a year ago, writes the SonntagsZeitung.
Key messages should be brought to the people
The new thrust is now called the "Swiss Milk 2025 Added Value Strategy". The milk industry organization, which includes not only farmers but also processors and wholesalers, has formulated key messages that it wants to anchor in the public mind. The focus is to be placed on keywords such as "animal welfare" and "closeness to nature" and consumers are to be made more aware of the naturalness of production.
This reorientation can also be seen in advertising. With the change of Swissmilk agency - from Ruf Lanz to Jung von Matt/Limmat - the communicative focus has also changed. Whereas in recent years Lovely was the focus as a healthy, strong and sporty figurehead of the dairy industry, the current campaign shows the dairy cow as a happy animal on a green meadow. The Swiss Fair Trading Commission will now decide whether and to what extent the advertising presents consumers with an idealized or even false image. (hae)
