Not concerned about your health? How about your beauty? Last week the Milk Development Council (MDC) of the UK launched a new advertising campaign designed to encourage teenage girls to drink more milk. Marketing research shows that three out of four of young ladies in the UK are consuming less than three portions of dairy products per day. Problem is, these girls are apparently not at all swayed by the health benefits of milk. They can hardly comprehend that they'll someday turn 50, so concerns about the health of their bones during post-menopausal years is the furthest thing from their minds. The solution? Appeal to their vanity. The new campaign emphasizes how milk can make your skin, teeth and hair more attractive. (I'm going to curb my usual rant about health problems associated with commercial milk intake. But if you're in the mood for a rant, see the e-Alert "The Milkman Cometh" 12/22/04.) MDC executives believe that teen girls represent such a potentially lucrative niche of their market that they've devoted £3 million to this two-year "Naturally Beautiful" campaign. And here's the best part: the European Commission has pitched in a grant worth 2.1 million euros to support the campaign. That means that taxpayers in France, Germany, Italy, etc. are helping to foot the bill to appeal to the vanity of teenage girls in the UK. We're used to this type of nonsense all the time in the U.S. I'm just sorry to see it becoming a worldwide phenomenon. | 
