In some countries, plant-based milks and dairy milk live uncomfortably side-by-side. In others, like the US, not at all.

Oatly is using the weapon that dairy milk can’t – its sustainability credentials – in the ongoing war with dairy milk in the US.

It is offering to pay for the advertising space if dairy brands publicly disclose their answers to a questionnaire about their climate footprint.

That questionnaire involves 68 questions and 4 essays, the same questions Oatly did to receive its climate certification.

Oatly took out full-page ads in the Sunday, May 7 issues of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post to issue its sustainability challenge to dairy milk. 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. It is also installing billboards in Times Square and Hollywood Boulevard on May 8.

The campaign began with a blog on March 6, that in a 2022 life cycle assessment oat milk had a 44% to 76% lower impact on the climate than cow’s milk in all of Oatly’s largest markets – Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US.

And Oatly’s “un-corporate” tone of voice? It supports the brand’s transparency promise and aims to appeal to millennials and Gen Z who are already turning to plant-based milks. Oatly’s recent flash poll (of 1,100 people in the US) showed that 54% of Gen Z and 49% of millennials state they prefer plant-based milk to cow’s milk. 36% of Gen Z and 23% of millennials put that into action, drinking plant-based milk most often vs cow’s milk.

28% of Gen Z and 19% of millennials would be embarrassed to order cow’s milk in public and 31% of Gen Z describe cow′s milk as uncool.