A celebrity advertising campaign, featuring chef Gordon Ramsay and pop singer Pixie Lott, is to be launched in an attempt to reverse declining sales of milk.

Posters of the pair sporting a white, milk moustache will be unveiled across Britain with the slogan “make mine milk”.

The £7.5 million initiative, which will highlight low-fat versions of milk, is the biggest since the “Whole lotta bottle” and “Accrington Stanley” campaigns of the 1980s.

It is the first cross-industry campaign since milk was deregulated in 1994. Commissioned by the Milk Marketing Forum of trade body Dairy UK, it is one-third financed by the European Commission.

Ramsay said: “There is a lot of love for milk in this country, but people often assume that it’s only good for kids who need a bit of calcium. The truth is that milk, especially low-fat milk, is fantastically good for you.”

Other celebrities, yet to be announced, will appear in future posters.

Sandy Wilkie, sales and marketing director at Robert Wiseman Dairies and chairman of the Dairy Council, which is part of industry body Dairy UK, said sales of milk had been in decline in Britain for decades, reflecting the downturn in doorstep deliveries.

He added:”Nowadays you see other drinks on sale, such as orange juice with added calcium, so milk needs to reaffirm its association with shoppers as a healthy drink.”

The Food Standards Agency recommends the average adult should have 700g of calcium a day.

This equates to two-and-a-half 250ml glasses of semi-skimmed milk, which has a fat content of 1.8% – or less, if the overall diet also includes cheese or other sources of calcium.

Britain drinks six billion litres of milk every year, the third highest rate of consumption in Europe – but the long-term pattern of sales is in decline, according to Dairy UK.

In 1974, Britons drank 4.7 pints per head each week but by 2004 this had fallen to 3.7 pints.

A recent campaign in Scotland, using the slogan ‘White Stuff’ and featuring Andy Murray, the tennis player, and Nell McAndrew, the model, led to a 3.4% increase in milk sales.

The “Make Mine Milk” theme also follows the success of the ‘Got Milk?’ posters in the United States involving the singer Beyoncé Knowles and actor Hugh Jackman.

Previous nationwide milk campaigns include “Drinka Pinta Milka Day” in 1958, “Whole Lotta Bottle” in 1982 and the “Accrington Stanley” advert of 1988 featuring two children discussing the advice of Liverpool football player Ian Rush.

Source: Telegraph