Milk's gotta lotta bottle

"Milk's gotta lotta bottle" was an advertising slogan used by the British Milk Marketing Board (MMB) in the early 1980s. It followed the "drinka pinta milka day" slogan used by the MMB from 1959. The new slogan was an attempt to halt declining sales particularly among young people. The slogan was used in television and radio advertisements and on various items of merchandise from January 1982. It was judged as successful but was supplanted by "Get Fresh, Get Bottle" by the middle of the decade.

Slogan

The Milk Marketing Board (MMB) was a body set up in 1933 to promote higher prices for British milk; its powers included regulation of marketing.[1] From 1959 until the late 1970s, it had marketed milk under the slogan "drinka pinta milka day".[2][3] Market research in the late 1970s had shown that younger age groups regarded milk as old fashioned and boring, and sales were declining.[4][5] The MMB wanted to reinvigorate the product with a new slogan.[5] The MMB wanted the slogan to be similar to its old tagline and also wanted it to enter the popular vernacular, as the previous slogan had.[6]

"Milk's gotta lotta bottle" was developed by Rod Allen and the team under Peter Marsh at advertising consultancy Allen, Brady & Marsh. Marsh's team had been responsible for the popular "Secret Lemonade Drinker" campaign for R. White's Lemonade.[7][8][9] The "Milk's gotta lotta bottle" slogan was specifically formulated for its rhythm and rhyme.[10]

The slogan was based on the cockney rhyming slang for "bottle" as well as being a reference to the glass milk bottles, which the product was sold in. The rhyming slang came from "bottle and glass", for "arse". The meaning, entering the wider public consciousness from the 1960s through greater coverage in the press of contemporary crime, was of having courage and not suffering from loose bowels due to fear.[11][12] The slogan was launched in January 1982.[4]

Campaign
External video
"Milk's gotta lotta bottle" television advertisements
A 1980s milk delivery
video icon Early "action" advertisements on YouTube
video icon A later Brian Glover advertisement on YouTube

The MMB campaign was overseen by Penny Hughes, in one of her first roles at the board, and commanded a huge advertising budget.[13] The campaign intended to market milk as a thirst-quenching fresh drink and also promoted its health aspects.[5][14]

The first television adverts contained the slogan "Fresh milk's gotta lotta bottle" sung three times, followed by other taglines (such as "it's got minerals and vitamins, to keep a body fit") and closed with "nice cold, ice cold milk!".[14] The advertisements were initially action-themed and featured astronauts, racing car drivers and women in catsuits; at one point Scandinavian model and actress Jenny Worman featured as a woman opening a fridge.[15][14] One advertisement featured a punk rock band singing the lyrics.[16] The television advertisements were described at the time by Marketing as "blatantly sexist".[17] Later advertisements featured Yorkshire actor Brian Glover, who had also participated in Allinson's Bread and Tetley Tea adverts.[18]

In conjunction with television and radio advertising the MMB launched a range of merchandise featuring the slogan, this included T-shirts, dinghies and mugs.[19] In addition, the Dairy Council, which frequently co-operated with the MMB, launched Operation Skyquest, an attempt to break the hot air balloon altitude record. A balloon, prominently emblazoned with the slogan "I've gotta lotta bottle!" and piloted by Per Lindstrand, was launched. The attempt failed when the balloon broke from its mooring, with Lindstrand falling from a trailing rope.[20] During this period the MMB was sponsor of the EFL Cup, which was branded as the Milk Cup, and the slogan was used at football matches.[21]

By the mid-1980s, the slogan had been supplanted by the "Get Fresh, Get Bottle" campaign.[22] The "milk's gotta lotta bottle" slogan was judged as a success. The slogan saw popular use among young adults, who were the target market, and in the media. It was seen to have prevented further decline in milk sales, which stabilised.[4]

See also
  • Got Milk?, a similar American advertising campaign

References
  1. "Records of the Milk Marketing Board". National Archives. 1924–1995. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  2. Harrison, Brian (26 March 2009). Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951—1970. OUP Oxford. p. 558. ISBN 978-0-19-160678-6.
  3. Hollander, John (1997). The Work of Poetry. Columbia University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-231-10897-3.
  4. Great Britain Milk Marketing Board (1978). Annual Report and Accounts. The Board. pp. 6–7.
  5. World Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Abstracts. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. 1982. p. 814.
  6. Mishan, Frieda (1 November 2004). Designing Authenticity into Language Learning Materials. Intellect Books. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-84150-904-4.
  7. "Peter Marsh". HeraldScotland. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  8. Degun, Gurjit (4 April 2016). "Allen Brady & Marsh co-founder Peter Marsh dies". Campaign. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  9. Woods, Nicola (12 May 2014). Describing Discourse: A Practical Guide to Discourse Analysis. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4441-1668-7.
  10. Picello, Raffaella (1 October 2018). Key Concepts of English Language and Linguistics: A coursebook for university students. libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni. p. 128. ISBN 978-88-3359-049-3.
  11. Thorne, Tony (27 February 2014). Dictionary of Contemporary Slang. A&C Black. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-4081-8180-5.
  12. Braier, Rachel (22 February 2013). "Don't get your Alans in a twist". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  13. Howard, Tom (19 February 2022). "'I didn't have to be a chief executive to make a difference to a business'". The Times. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  14. Matten, Glen; Goggins, Aidan (4 June 2012). The Health Delusion: How to Achieve Exceptional Health in the 21st Century. Hay House, Inc. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-84850-885-9.
  15. Kermode, Mark (4 February 2010). It's Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive. Random House. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-4090-9916-1.
  16. "Video: 7 magnificent milk TV ads". Farmers Weekly. 31 May 2015.
  17. Marketing. Maclean-Hunter. 1983. p. 9.
  18. Golding, Simon W. (29 October 2014). Life After Kes. Andrews UK Limited. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-910295-31-1.
  19. Collins, Justin Lee (24 September 2009). Good Times!. Ebury Publishing. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4070-2939-9.
  20. May, Pete (20 March 2012). Rent Boy: How One Man Spent 20 Years Falling Off the Property Ladder. Garrett County Press. ISBN 978-1-891053-57-3.
  21. Ward, Andrew (20 October 2016). No Milk Today: The Vanishing World of the Milkman. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4721-3690-9.
  22. Cannon, Geoffrey (1988). The Politics of Food. Century. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7126-1717-8.
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