Quirky White Lotus actress Aubrey Plaza is catching heat for starring in a Big Dairy ad promoting a fictitious tree-derived "Wood Milk." The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) designed the campaign to poke fun at alternative milk options while pushing for dairy consumption. Unfortunately, the ad didn't "moo-ve" Plaza's plant-based-milk-drinking fanbase of Millennials and Zoomers who criticized her for endorsing the dairy industry.
Struggling against a world where the FDA has officially let almond, oat, and soy cop its name, Big Milk has (probably) paid Plaza huge bucks to convince the youth to please drink dairy. The viral spoof was created by… MilkPEP, which sounds like a wholesome after-school activity but is actually an industry marketing firm funded by big dairy producers—and the very same group that came up with the iconic "Got Milk?" campaign, which ran from the 1990s until 2014.
But the plan has backfired: Instead of making nondairy milk look stupid, the ad has gotten backlash from Plaza stans, making Big Dairy look stupid. They're calling the actress a "dairy propagandist" for siding with Big Milk. The outrage got so real that Plaza seemingly turned off comments on her sponsored Instagram post. "Aubrey, no!" screamed one TikToker, narrating the Wood Milk campaign video. "Why on earth are you getting in bed with 'Got Milk?' Nobody likes milk—like, literally nobody."