“The white stuff?”: An investigation into consumer evaluation of the Scottish celebrity milk marketing campaign

Abstract

Purpose - To examine the perceptions of Scottish consumers regarding the current "milk moustache" marketing campaign in order to discover aspects of milk perception, the campaign's effectiveness in portraying milk as an enjoyable, healthy, modern product and its use as a vehicle for raising consumption of milk. Design/methodology/approach - A face-to-face survey was conducted in Edinburgh and South Lanarkshire with a sample (n = 100) of Scottish consumers. Findings - The results showed that there was a high recognition of and a positive attitude portrayed towards the campaign, and the celebrities used to endorse it. Milk appeared to be viewed as a commodity and although health benefits were recognised they did not appear to be instrumental in raising consumption levels. There were few differences in perception according to gender, age, socio-economic grouping and on comparison with a small group who had not seen the adverts, except in perception of some non-nutritional views. Originality/value - The paper provides information on advertising effects on perception of milk.