ABSTRACT
The cultural currency of milk and its advertising has been, and continues to be, invested with deeply symbolic values that interweave images of agrarian, domestic, and national virtues. In contemporary advertising discourse, it remains a vital component of the ongoing narrative of Sweden’s tranquil, pastoral past of small-scale farming-a narrative of steady and benevolent growth, unbroken by the country’s late industrialization. Seen in the context of local and national dairy production, it speaks of hygiene, civilization, and rationality, and is mobilized as an emblem of mercantilist-nationalist pride and protectionism. For example, although Swedish consumers welcomed cheese and yoghurt from international markets with open arms, they adamantly rejected milk.1 Placed within the familial realm, milk is associated with innocence, altruism, mothering, and nurturing; connected with the more vaguely defi ned domain of the social, it articulates the normality and stability of Swedish everyday housekeeping and meals ranging from the sturdy breakfast to the latenight snack straight out of the refrigerator. Until the discovery of lactose intolerance and the problematic of milk fat, there was no question about it: Milk was good for you.2
