Makayla Presgrave

Lugo
Rhet 110N
7 October 2015
Drink Up
A thirteen-year-old boy interested in being a professional basketball player when he is
older, is flipping through the new Sports Illustrated magazine and comes across a "got milk?"
advertisement. The motivational advertisement takes up the whole page with Chris Bosh, Miami
Heat's 611 center-forward suited up in the United States Olympic team uniform, and a wideeyed baby giraffe pictured close to Bosh, with both looking questioningly at the other. Bosh, with
a curious look on his dark face, is staring confusedly at the young giraffe, wondering, "How did I
get to be so tall?" In his right hand is a cold glass of milk and just above his top lip is a white
"mustache" left from him drinking the milk. The room's lighting highlights and defines Bosh's
toned biceps and deltoids. In the top right corner of the humorous image is a statement in black
font, "Drink up." Next to it is a question in the biggest, boldest font on the page, "got milk?" To
the left in small lettering is a statistic that reads "15% of adult height is added as a teen- see
how milk's nutrients can help at bodybymilk.com/chrisbosh." The young, ambitious boy pictures
himself gulping down gallons of milk in order to reach his desirable height and weight. Dressed
in the Miami Heats team uniform, he then envisions himself dunking the ball at opening night in
the American Airlines Arena with the crowd going wild after he does. The bright-eyed boy then
screams out to his mother, "Can I go to the store and buy some milk?"
The California Milk Processor Board, a campaign that aims to promote drinking milk,
attracts Belongers with this "got milk?" advertisement by dressing Bosh in an United States of
America Olympic basketball team uniform, using milk and the giraffe to create nostalgic and
sentimental feelings and by highlighting Bosh's height, arm muscle and statistic on the left side
of the advertisement. To understand how this milk promotion appeals to the milk consumption of
Belongers, I will focus on Understanding Image Analysis by Harold W. Berkman and an
interview from Mabel Wong, an eighteen year old, I-am-me type consumer, female golfer
attending her first year at University of San Francisco.
The Belongers group discussed in "Understanding Image Analysis" are Outer-directed
consumers who want to identify with certain groups or keep up with them, maybe even surpass
them. They believe in "traditional family values and are conforming, nonexperimental, nostalgic,
and sentimental" (Berkman 217). They also tend to be middle-class blue collar workers and buy
products associated with American culture, especially sports. This "got milk?" advertisement is
directly aimed at this group of consumers. The ambitious thirteen-year-old boy in the previous
paragraph is a Belonger, as are his parents. This advertisement appeals to the adolescent boy
by creating a sentimental image for him that contains his favorite basketball player, Bosh, who
plays for the Miami Heat as center forward and has had a ton of success in the National
Basketball Association and the United States of America national team.
The "got milk?" advertisement highlights Bosh dressed in a team U.S.A. jersey to appeal
to this groups idea of nationalism. With the uniform being mostly navy blue, the picture
suggests that Bosh has a sense of athletic ability. It is a preferred color for corporate America
and their advertisements, because it makes Belongers have confidence and trust in what they
are seeing. Navy blue also represents knowledge, power, integrity, seriousness and creates a
sense of calmness when looking at an image (Color Symbolism Chart). Boshs jersey, which is
what Wong first noticed about the image, makes Belongers think that he is loyal to his country.
This sense of nationalism persuades them to purchase more milk, since he is representing
America and he is a star athlete in the world of basketball. With the red and white accents on
the jersey, the image also provides a sense of leadership, strength, power, goodness, and
success to Belongers. As a result, the color scheme leads Belongers to subconsciously

believing that they can trust in Bosh and purchase the product he is promoting because of his
expertise in the National Basketball Association and his ties to the United States of America.
Also, the product itself, milk, is something every household nationwide tends to have. It
is a traditional product families carry in their home and is something that is hard to replace,
unless families have allergies to it. In Understanding Image Analysis, Berkman discusses that
Belongers tend to be traditional blue-collar workers. For example, these middle-aged workers
use milk as something to put in their coffee in the morning as they walk out the door for work
and a necessity for their children when they pour their favorite cereal into a ceramic bowl before
leaving for school in the morning. It is part of American culture, as seen when milk used to be
delivered door to door in glass bottles from the 1900's to as late as the 1970's (Heyden). The
glass of milk Bosh holds creates a nostalgic and sentimental atmosphere for how times used to
be for older Belongers every time they go to the store and pick up a gallon of milk, since it is no
longer delivered door to door in glass bottles. The use of the young giraffe also adds
sentimental value to the advertisement because it makes viewers remember all the days they
spent at the zoo with their families or as young children. The adorable giraffe, noted by Mabel
Wong, an I-am-me type consumer, inspires Belongers to go out to the store and buy more of the
product, because they think drinking milk will give them the same sensation of both nostalgia
and sentimental feelings, making this advertisement very successful in its promotion of milk.
Comparing Bosh's height to the baby giraffe's creates a sense of awe and humor for the
consumers, especially teenage Belongers. By seeing his height and reading the statistic, "15%
of adult height is added as a teen- see how milk's nutrients can help at
bodybymilk.com/chrisbosh," Belongers are motivated to drink milk. So they, too, can be as tall
as a baby giraffe. Being tall is especially important for teenage and child Belongers because in
American sports culture, it is ideal when you are taller than the rest of your opponents. The
advertisement is intended for a younger Belonger audience, indicated by the words, "15% of
adult height is added as teen" It raises the hopes of teenage Belongers who are not yet at
their ideal height. It also sells them on the idea that continuing to drink milk will help them grow
as tall as Bosh and the baby giraffe pictured, making them want to go ask their parents to
purchase more milk.
The lighting of this advertisement also highlights and defines Bosh's arm muscles. This
appeals to both male and female Belongers. It makes young and old Belongers want to be as
strong as Bosh, and one of the ways they can get this physically fit is by drinking milk. Added
calcium to ones diet was once a staple for men trying to gain muscle mass. Milk was and is
seen as a necessity for maintaining a healthy diet and help raise fitness to an elite level. The
nicely lit advertisement showing off Boshs arm muscles is selling the idea that by drinking milk,
men of all ages could be toned and strong just like Bosh. Females might find this advertisement
attractive because of Bosh's arm muscles. Most heterosexual women are attracted to men who
have some muscle on them. With Bosh's muscles defined by the lighting in this image, his
appearance can appeal to aroused, heterosexual women by attracting them to Bosh and
purchasing milk because of his sex appeal.
This "got milk?" advertisement appeals to a wide range of Belongers from thirteen-yearold aspiring professional basketball players to their older sisters who find Bosh as an attractive
man. It appeals to their middle-class parents who want the best for their children, with the idea
that it is supporting America and shows sentimental value with the use of the giraffe and the
product of milk.
After the young boy asked his mother if he could go to the store and buy some milk, she
suspiciously replied yes because he has never drunk milk in the past. Nevertheless, his mother
drove him to the store, since she had groceries to pick up anyways. They purchased milk and
some other groceries for the week, with the boy eager to take a sip of his ticket to 6'11", hurried
his mother out of the store, so they could get home and he could "Drink Up." As he did, he
began daydreaming about his successful career as a future center-forward for the Miami Heat.
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