America’s health secretary takes a sip of whole milk and closes his eyes. In an instant, he’s transported to a blue-tinged nightclub filled with dancing bureaucrats dressed in business casual. He sways to the TikTok-viral beat of “Turn the Lights Off,” milk mustache gleaming atop his upper lip.
Watching the video feels like an AI-generated fever dream. But it’s part of the Trump administration’s new social media campaign encouraging Americans to #DrinkWholeMilk while celebrating two recent victories: a law that will allow schools to serve whole milk after being off the menu for over a decade, and dietary guidelines that, for the first time, recommend full-fat dairy rather than emphasizing nonfat and low-fat options.
The U.S. government has a long history of promoting dairy consumption. The Department of Agriculture’s dairy checkoff program collects funds from farmers for research and marketing efforts such as the famous “Got Milk?” campaign of the 1990s and 2000s. What’s notable here, experts say, are two things: The campaign’s emphasis on whole milk, of a piece with Kennedy’s consistent championing of saturated fat, and the fact that government officials are jumping in to advertise milk directly.
“It’s not the first time we’re seeing government officials do this,” said Michele Simon, a public health attorney and food industry expert. In the 1990s, then-health secretary Donna Shalala appeared in a Got Milk ad, prompting some critics at the time to complain about the precedent set by government officials making commercial endorsements.
