The year is 1955. Jim Henson creates The Muppets, a group of silly, musically inclined puppets led by a perhaps the silliest puppet of them all: a green, talking frog named Kermit. They are a hit. After numerous TV appearances on Sesame Street, the Muppets get their own show, and the rest is history. They brought on famous names such as Elton John, taught valuable lessons to America’s youth, and cemented themselves as an integral part of childhood.
The year is 1993. And, like a child who no longer wants to play with his toys after a new LEGO set comes out, the average American adult has traded in drinking milk for flashy, sugary drinks endorsed by their favorite actors and athletes. Thus, like any other corporation losing revenue, the California Milk Processor Board went to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a genius advertising firm responsible behind America’s favorite ads. Their solution was simple: an advertising campaign that used sensational advertising, household names, and loosely backed scientific data. Then, they got Kermit involved.
The year is 1999. Got Milk? is in full swing, raking in sales from their newly dairy-conscious customers. Milk sales were up, and Americans bought into the corporate rhetoric that their celebrities were paid to like. On the advertisement page of any given magazine, Americans were immediately confronted with milk-mustached celebrities lightly suggesting that they will have weak bones if they do not have three glasses of milk a day. Never mind that the milk industry spent millions on lobbying, never mind that calcium—the supposed milk-exclusive antidote to weak bones—is found in significant amounts in broccoli, kale, black beans, and other everyday foods. Never mind that there is now a potential link between milk and dairy products to certain types of cancer. By all metrics, Got Milk? succeeded at lobbying the government and winning over the consumers. Yet, arguably, the most delicious victory of the California Milk Processor Board was supplementing their insufficient scientific data with the power of a cameo. It looked like this.
“Got Milk? Kermit the Frog 1999”
Kermit the Frog, a long-time advocate of self-acceptance, is pictured with a tall glass of milk. In this advertisement, Kermit’s reassuring, stylish presence is undeniably the focal point. Immediately, his gleeful, heartening eyes connect viewers to an icon from their childhood. His milk-stained smile and business casual attire give the impression that while this is a professional photoshoot, Kermit still found time to flaunt his cheerful personality and, of course, his thirst for milk. There is a level of compassion to this appeal; Kermit provides witty educational blurbs about calcium deficiency and how he keeps himself safe from weak bones in the hopes of persuading consumers to follow in his footsteps. Everything in this ad is digestible. Kermit is a lovable character, the text is aligned in a way that does not take away from Kermit’s image, and there is a clear a message of promoting milk.
Yet, this research presented by Kermit is overlook-able, further illustrating that everything this ad has relies on Kermit’s milk-selling skills. By placing Kermit as the focus, the text is already deemphasized and comes secondary to Kermit’s sharp look. By placing the main text at the bottom of the poster in small font, the text is further understated, showing that Got Milk? does not necessarily find the science to be the most important selling point of milk for the majority of consumers who will see an immediate connection between their favorite fuzzy frog and milk. The most important selling point, for them, is the Muppet stamp of approval.
This ad was meant to be easy. It relies on Kermit’s likeness to corroborate its claims about calcium. Yet, the claims’ credibility, for those who stop and read them, are once more rested on Kermit’s shoulders. They offer an easy solution: if you are one of 3 out 4 adults who get insufficient calcium, drink 3 glasses of milk a day. There is no discussion about other potential sources of calcium, no discussion about the potential risks associated with consuming three servings a dairy a day. Milk is the only solution to offered to remedying a calcium deficiency. The genius of this ad lies in using the compassionate figure of Kermit to present research funded by the dairy industry to unquestioning consumers. Because Kermit is already trustworthy, it would be unfathomable for Kermit to regurgitate statistics that are against consumer interests. There is no citation provided for his calcium statistic. At first glance, all the post needs is Kermit’s pedagogical puppet quotes about tadpoles and lily pads.
“It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be nice.”
There is a plethora of pedagogical quotes from Kermit the frog, and his teachings center around the fundamental, age-old principle of being nice. At the heart of this ad, Kermit’s niceness is what is used to sell milk. Kermit’s desire for adults to drink more milk, albeit deemphasized compared to his mere presence, is equivalent to an old friend from one’s childhood reaching out and offering some wisdom gained through years of teaching compassion. Got Milk? has to waste no time making Kermit’s character appeal, because Jim Henson has already elevated the puppet to a beloved household name status. Because this was marketed to adults who most likely grew up on the Muppets, or who are now gathering around the TV with their children to watch Kermit and his friends, Kermit carries some authority.
“It’s Not Easy Being Green” performed by Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson)
This authority is one of a community educator. Sure, Kermit the Frog is nice. But he also teaches being nice to generation after generation. Kermit is a teacher. Kermit’s song, “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” weaves a beautiful lesson of accepting, and even embracing, the unchangeable aspects of one’s identity into a relaxed tune. According to research compiled by The Atlantic in “The Sesame Street Effect” by Alia Wong, Sesame Street, complete with its cameos from the cast’s Muppet friends greatly improved early childhood education, especially in lower income areas. Kermit’s outreach is far and wide, and his message of unrelenting positivity held the power to change the trajectory of children’s lives. Got Milk? hijacks this message to sell dairy, but it is implemented in a careful, calculated way. The main focus of this ad is the likeness of Kermit, but, for an audience that decides to read the deemphasized calcium content, Kermit’s teacher status is used to get him to sing a different tune than his usually spiels about peace, love, and kindness. Underneath the surface, Kermit is not just looking pretty on a full-page ad, he is teaching the American adult that milk is an essential part of a healthy diet. Much like teaching children to embrace their uniqueness for their mental health, Kermit is teaching the now-adults to enjoy dairy for their physical health. Exploiting Kermit’s status as a benevolent teacher effectively lulls consumers into a state of following authority, even if the authority’s request is something as remedial as investing in a milk carton.
This ad is different from most Got Milk? ads. In the majority, celebrities are shown from either shoulder-up or waist-up, with a trademarked milk-stache. However, Kermit is a puppet. This means that Kermit must be operated through somebody’s hands being inside the puppet, manipulating his movements. Yet, the setting of this ad features Kermit, free from human operation; audiences can see his whole body with no strings or wires attached. He is standing proudly, excited to have his photo taken. Kermit is moving around without anybody controlling. His pose is human-like, with his foot atop a wood box and his milk-holding hand rested on his knee. Kermit is like a real person whose hand you could shake; even the background—a photo studio—is a distinctively human facility. While he retains his compassionate teacher status, he is also shown as one of us. This humanization of Kermit, in addition to him being an already humanized talking puppet, furthers Got Milk’s goal of connecting consumers to Kermit and consequentially to milk. But Kermit is still being controlled. This time, however, it is the dairy industry’s invisible hand that manipulates his movements.
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