“Nut Milk is Not Milk”: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives Advertising in Europe and North America

One of the greatest challenges humanity currently faces is global food security and sustainable agricultural production. The worldwide production and consumption of livestock for meat and dairy in particular are of critical concern, as this causes one of the largest environmental impacts on the planet. Following concerns for biodiversity loss, deforestation, deterioration of water quality and climate change by governments, activist groups, non-partisan organisations, and consumers alike, the demand for plant-based alternatives for meat and dairy has drastically increased. The dairy alternatives segment specifically is experiencing a boom. This study aims to determine how plant-based dairy alternatives are advertised to consumers in Europe and North America, the two largest milk-consuming and producing regions. The main research question guiding this study is thus: How have plant-based milk alternatives been portrayed in advertising images in Europe and North America in the past half decade? In this context, plant-based milk alternatives are defined as fluids that are subtracted from plants, nuts, legumes, cereals, or seeds, that seek to imitate dairy milk’s sensory aspects. To answer the research question, an in-depth qualitative investigation was performed by means of a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) of visual image advertisements (N = 153). The results indicate four key plant-based dairy alternatives (PBDA) discourses which were identified across both regions in the same order. These discourses are health, dairy, sustainability, and animal welfare. Many of the PBDA advertisements investigated in this study communicate the more positive aspects of plant-based dairy alternatives such as their health and nutritional benefits and ingredients, and how much more environmentally friendly these products are in comparison to fluid dairy products. Moreover, through the communication of these discourses, plant-based milk brands aid in raising awareness of socio-political issues in the dairy industry and promote transformations to more sustainable food systems. When comparing the advertisements in North America with those in Europe, the former still employs shock advertising to convey their message and promote plant milk. Ultimately, brands making use of ads such as these attempt to instill behaviour change among the audience by acting as the messengers of truth who unveil the unethical treatment of dairy cows to gain authenticity. This was one of the key and few differences found between European and North American advertisements of plant-based dairy alternatives. Results also suggest that plant-based milk brand advertisers tap into the underlying traditional messages of established dairy marketing initiatives to market their products, which may contribute to the reinforcement of a milk-centred culture. Moreover, the trend of PBDA advertisers tapping into the dairy discourse and utilizing messaging and already established fluid dairy promotion campaigns to market PBDAs is identified as a method to move from a niche to the mainstream. Future research should consider investigating this further.