What Next? Baskin Robbins?

No...seriously?





"Back in MY day..." I want to say, but I don't want to risk the "old fogey" tag. Fact is that back in more recent history, chocolate milk was about the only diverse form of moo juice that was available. Mom would not, of course, entertain the idea of actually getting it for us: we always went to a local farmer and got milk "au natural" as it were...right from the cow. The cream would always rise to the top, and I doubt seriously if it was even pasteurized (of course, that might have been before Louis patented the process!)
Anyway, as I was shopping in the store today, I came across a half-gallon container of root beer-flavored milk. I had never heard of such a thing and was not tempted in any way to try it. Come to find out, this has been a staple at state fairs in the upper Midwest for the last few years. The Kemp's company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and sold it as a promotional item at the state fair. Typical of things, the Wisconsin State Fair copycatted the idea (much like it did with chocolate-covered bacon on a stick) and this year sold small cups of the concoction for 25 cents, ostensibly as the perfect warm weather drink mixing calcium with,,,um...soda pop. What was once a summer-only promotion has, apparently, caught on to the point that it is featured at our local grocer's.
The hook? I guess it might get kids to drink more "milk," but I cannot imagine what kind of health benefits might derive from mixing a healthy drink with an unhealthy one...but then, I would not drink strawberry or banana milk, either, and Kemp's has already found a market for those flavors. Word out on the 'net is that even some schools are offering it as an alternative to actual milk. No wonder school nutrition gets such a terrible rap.
No word on what the cows of Kemp's have to say about the deal.