This ad aired during the closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics:
For the last 25 years, milk advertisers have used the iconic “Got Milk?” campaign to tout the benefits (and ~cool~ factor) of dairy. Specifically, every two years, Team USA’s Olympic athletes have proudly sported bright white milk mustaches to support the notion that milk doesn’t just build strong bones, but also gold-medal-winning athletes. (Indeed, Kristi Yamaguchi just recreated her “Got Milk?” ad to celebrate the anniversary of her Olympic win in 1992.) After all, what could be more wholesome than an American athlete fueling a gold-medal performance with a tall glass of milk?
Well, to the six athletes featured in the new Switch 4 Good commercial, it’s anything but.
The ad, which played for the first time during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games closing ceremony, shows Olympic athletes proudly stating that they’ve ditched dairy and live a plant-based lifestyle. The lineup includes weightlifter Kendrick Farris, swimmer Rebecca Soni, sprinter Malachi Davis, soccer player Kara Lang, alpine skier Seba Johnson, and cyclist Dotsie Bausch, who is leading the charge in the campaign. The mission behind Switch 4 Good is to raise awareness about the “big four” benefits of switching to a plant-based diet: health, performance, sustainability, and ethics.