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Oatly Challenges Big Dairy to Climate Footprint Showdown

Oatly is offering free ad space to a big dairy brand that shares the same impact data that Oatly did to receive its climate certification.

Published 3 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Image: Oatly

Oat-milk giant Oatly is throwing down the transparency gauntlet to ‘Big Dairy’ by offering to give away free (paid by Oatly) advertising space if dairy brands are willing to publicly disclose answers to a few (68 total) questions about their climate footprint.

It’s part of a new ad campaign that highlights Oatly’s recent move to include a climate footprint label across several of its products in the US. The Oatly ads will be featured in this Sunday’s NY Times, LA Times and Washington Post; and on Monday will be on billboards in Times Square and in Hollywood in Los Angeles. The ads feature two placements — one for Oatly, and the other reserved for any dairy company that wants to take them up on their offer.

Image credit: Oatly

To redeem the free advertising, the company will need to visit OatlyClimateFootprintChallenge.com and answer the same questions Oatly did to receive its climate certification; Oatly swears it will make good on its free-advertising promise to participating companies.

As Armando Turco, Executive Creative Director for Oatly in North America, explains: “The ultimate goal of the campaign is to advocate for transparency on the impact products have on the planet, so consumers can make more informed purchases. Our product climate footprint numbers started rolling out earlier this year and we wanted to bring further awareness to that. This is a standard-setting move on the part of Oatly; but it only really works for consumers if other companies follow suit — so, we’re encouraging other companies to do just that. We thought a first call to the dairy industry to join us in publishing product climate footprints made natural sense.”

Climate facts on cow’s milk vs Oatly (more info here)

According to a study in the journal Nature, roughly one-third of global human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from the food system.
According to a recent study, Oatly Barista sold in the US uses 71 percent less water to produce and has a 46 percent lower climate impact than comparable cow’s milk.*
Oatly’s climate footprint labeling can be found on select US products and most recently was added to Oatgurt to enable shoppers to compare the climate impact of products in the grocery aisle.
By 2029, Oatly has pledged to reduce its climate footprint per liter of Oatly by 70 percent and all product facilities will meet “future factory” criteria, putting sustainable and efficient practices at the forefront of its initiatives.

A recent Oatly Flash Poll of over 1,100 US consumers (14 and up) found that more than half (54 percent) of Gen Z and almost half (49 percent) of Millennials prefer plant-based milk to cow’s milk, while nearly one-third (31 percent) of Gen Z describe cow′s milk as “basic/uncool.” And for those who still enjoy cow’s milk and just can’t get down with plant-based versions, emerging alternatives such as Perfect Day’s animal-free dairy provide the same taste, texture and nutritional profile as milk (because it is milk) from a farm-raised cow without any of the deleterious environmental impacts.

Those who want to know more about Oatly’s climate footprint can visit Oatly.com/Footprint; and haters can head to FckOatly.com.