Perhaps unusually for a vegan, I spend a lot of time in the dairy aisle. As someone who also advises on the vegan and plant-based marketplace it’s important to keep up to speed on what’s happening on both sides. I’ve previously talked about how plant-based iconography has been widely adopted on dairy products. Browse through the cow’s milk cartons and you will find so many green leaves and eco-symbols that you’d think you’d accidentally wandered into the plant-milk section. It’s all done on purpose. It’s done partially to confuse the casual ‘flexitarian’ and partially to make the consumer think that cow’s milk ain’t all that bad.
This has peaked with the launch of ‘Smug Dairy’, advertised as ‘Blended Oat & Dairy Milk’ (see photo above) that contains ‘The goodness of dairy and plants’. Some people will see these kinds of blended products as a welcome development. They will see it as a way for people to transition from dairy to plant-milk or reduce the amount of dairy that is being consumed. But don’t be fooled.
Smug Dairy is a new brand from dairy giant Kerry Dairy. This is still dairy milk. Look at the ingredients and it’s still almost 75% cow milk but with added oats. It’s an attempt to rebrand their core product, cow milk, to a consumer base that is increasingly turning away from it.
If this was the other way round (a 75% plant-milk with 25% added dairy) then it wouldn’t be a product I’d endorse but I would accept an argument for it. It could be seen as a ‘weaning’ product, moving people to a predominantly plant-based milk whilst still having some elements of what they are familiar with. But trust me, if it was other way around, the huge dairy lobbyists would be mounting legal challenges against the concept quicker than you could say Old MacDonald had an animal sanctuary…
What do you think? Email me and let me know.
David 💚🌱🐷
David’s thoughts from the week, published every weekend for members only.
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