Milk Marketing is Part of American Schools. Why? One Green Planet [Video]

Marielle Williamson, a senior and president of her Los Angeles high school’s Animal Awareness Club, sought to protest the promotion of cow’s milk in her school. According to Vox reporting, her plan was simple: set up a table outside the cafeteria to distribute literature on the inhumane conditions of dairy farms and promote plant-based milk alternatives like soy milk. This initiative aimed to counterbalance the pervasive Got Milk? advertisements that inundated her school’s environment.

Williamson’s principal granted her permission but she also had to promote the benefits of cow’s milk. This stipulation was rooted in a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy prohibiting schools from restricting the marketing of milk, tied to the National School Lunch Program’s (NSLP) requirements. The policy underscored the dairy industry’s influence over schools participating in the NSLP, which could face penalties for non-compliance.

Refusing to accept this restriction, Williamson, with the Support of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), sued the USDA, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and …