Nicole Leonard
Happy Cow Campaign
Broward College
Happy Cow Campaign
1. Analyze the “Happy Cows” campaign that was developed for the California Milk Advisory
Board to promote Real California Cheese-
a. Why do you think the advisory board chose the "Happy Cow" message?
The advisory board chose to use personification within their campaign. They decided
to provide the cows with human like personalities and the ability to speak. This was a great
method to amplify their brand’s identity (Wachtel, 2021). This technique also allowed the
consumer to be able to connect with the cows (Wachtel, 2021). The cows were basically
experiencing the same issues that other Californian native deals with. It also creates the ideas
that the cows who live in California are happy. Since they are happy, they are able to produce
quality dairy products.
b. Do you think this campaign was successful or not and why?
The campaign was successful. The campaign created a recognizable slogan and brand that
people know. It also allows the people to make an emotional bond with the cows who are
living in the same state as them and dealing with similar environmental issues as them. They
utilize humor in order to get the audience attention. The success can also be seeing the
statistics that shows that California is leading in dairy and cheese production (Greenwald,
n.d.). In a period of 15 years, California cheese production increased by 248% (Greenwald,
n.d.). These statistics shows how the campaign had dramatically increase production and
consumption in the California of dairy products. The ranking alone is a key indicator since
they surpass Wisconsin which was considered the top state when it comes to dairy products in
the U.S.
c. Do you believe this campaign was ethical? Why or why not?
The campaign was ethical because they are promoting the truth. For an advertisement to be
considered ethical there must be, “truth, fairness and equity in messaging and consumer
experience (De Palma, 2021). The campaign was basically attempting to use personification
of human characteristics using cows in order to show the benefit of buying dairy products that
came from California. The information they were promoting which is basically if your cows
are happy and treated well, they will be able to produce milk that create good dairy products.
According to positive psychology, happy people have the ability to produce quality result
compared to products created by unhappy people (Rausch, 2023). This idea clearly support
what the campaign was promoting. Since the cows are happy, they are able to create quality
based dairy products compared to cows who are not happy. The information they was
promoting was truth thus ethical.
References
De Palma, MJ. (2021). 9 steps to build trust: Ethical advertising principles. Microsoft.
Retrieved from
https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/january-2021/9-steps-to-build-trust-ethical-
advertising-principles
Greenwald, M. (n.d.). California milk Advisory board real california cheese. BCONLINE.
Rausch, T. (2023). Happy cows? Happy workplace: The secret to success. Leadership Beyond
Limits. Retrieved from https://leadershipbeyondlimits.com/happy-cows-happy-
workplace-the-secret-to-success/
Wachtel, T. (2021). 5 successful examples of brand personification. Element Three. Retrieved
from https://elementthree.com/blog/5-successful-examples-of-brand-personification/
