Today’s multi-platform political campaigns reach voters across television, streaming, digital, outdoor, audio, and mail advertising. And in one California county, political ads are also popping up in the dairy aisle. Clover Sonoma is utilizing its milk cartons to urge voters to reject Measure J, which would limit the size of dairies and “concentrated animal feeding operations” in Sonoma County.
“No on J,” reads the ad, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. “Keep Local Dairy. Keep Dairy Local.”
Milks carton have, in the past, been used for public service announcements for missing children, but dairy packaging is an otherwise unexpected place to find anything other than nutritional information.
“We never thought we’d be making political ads, but when an activist group submitted a ballot measure that would outlaw organic, multigenerational, American Humane Certified family farms based on the number of cows they have, we knew we had to communicate our opposition on our cartons,” Michael Benedetti, a spokesperson for Clover Sonoma, told the Chronicle.
Proponents of Measure J say it would protect animals, water, and small farms, but those opposed to it include the Sonoma County Farm Bureau board president, both the county Democratic and Republican parties, and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat editorial board, which said it puts local farms at risk. The county auditor found that if passed, the ballot measure could potentially reduce sales tax revenues and increase property tax revenues.
Luckily for Measure J opponents, they also have the goodwill earned by a 108-year-old regional milk brand on their side. Clover Sonoma is known in Northern California for its mascot Clo the Cow, who appears on billboards, and the dairy’s request to its customers is for an issue that impacts them directly.
By appealing to potential voters in the dairy section with an ad that stays in the fridge until its “best by” date, Clover Sonoma has achieved the kind of targeted advertising that most political professionals can only dream of.
Source: Fast Company
