Earlier this year, Coca-Cola announced they would be partnering with Fairlife LLC to bring a brand, new product to consumers all around. It isn’t a carbonated soda product this time around but, believe it or not, milk! the Inquisitr actually reported on its announcement earlier this year, an endeavor that seems exciting just because it is a new avenue for the soda corporation.
With the popularity Coca-Cola brings, Fairlife is receiving a lot of hype right before its launch. However, there are those who are uncertain about Fairlife too. The reasons why is because Fairlife has been linked to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their campaign is being called out for sexism.
Now before we jump into the proclaimed allegations stated above, it is best to check “the facts” about Fairlife off their official website for an understanding on why Fairlife is receiving a lot of positive hype. According to its description, Fairlife is an ultra-filtered milk that is supposed to be better than regular milk. It has 50 percent more natural protein, 30 percent more natural calcium, and 50 percent less sugar. These facts are even verbally confirmed by Sue McCloskey, dairy farmer and co-founder of Fairlife, in the attached video below.
Despite the face Fairlife presents on their milk, it is not enough to convince everyone that they provide a healthy and better version of milk. According to True Activist , the “healthy” moniker of the milk is scrutinized over the fact that the other co-founder of Fairlife, Mike McClosky, actually stated in a panel that organic farmers and its industry should embrace GMOs. Sue Beckwith of Enterprising Farmers confirms this when she attended the panel at SXSW ECO. The panel, which was titled “How Technology is Bringing Back the Family Farm,” featured Mike. However, two more people within the four-person panel were also associated with Fairlife Milk and Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana. That means three out of four people on the panel are for Fairlife. With that fact in mind, if Mike was to say that the organic community should embrace GMOs, what are the likely odds the other two will follow suit in supporting him? Sue Beckwith probably explains it best on what the panel probably was.
“It was a sales job for GMOs in organic foods.”
If it wasn’t a sales job for GMOs in organic foods, then why was it validated by the biggest promoter and centralized face of GMOs, Monsanto, in which the company gave an approving tweet of the panel at #farmfeed? This is surely big news for people who are upset with their food being “genetically modified,” but they probably don’t know about Fairlife’s connection to GMOs because they’re distracted by Fairlife’s advertising!
As exampled above, Fairlife utilized pin-up girls for their promotion. Though the PhotoShop job is very good, it is being berated for being unoriginal and sexist. According to The Guardian , they report the ads are just another example of sexualizing women for commercial gain by mimicking an existing set of photographs by London-based photographer, Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz. It should be noted that the liquid clothing effect is cool-looking, but how does wearing milk clothing associate to a healthier milk option consumers should drink? It is delegated that women’s bodies are once again being utilized to advertise an unrelated consumer product.
However, it can be argued the reason why pin-up girls are used is because of Fairlife’s promotion of being a healthy product in which drinking it will give consumers the beautiful body the pin-up girls have. However, that doesn’t explain the tantalizing poses or the lack of male counterparts.
In conclusion, Fairlife is already in the line of fire for the integrity of their product and its advertising. To be fair, this could just be Fairlife’s way of pushing a Coca-Cola product, in which the latter company is historically known for incorporating trace amounts of cocaine into their soda products in the past.
Now that you’ve read the allegations of association to GMOs and the use of sexism in advertising, what are your views about it? Do you think this product is a front to introduce GMOs into the organic growing, an industry that hates GMOs? Is Fairlife truly sexist in their campaign or are they just following the mantra the “sex sells” mantra just to push their milk?
[Images via Fairlife Promotions]