Nepo babies like Myles O'Neal and Ella Bleu Travolta do a plant-based take on their parents' "Got Milk?" ads

• Plant-based brand Silk has a new ad campaign that features nepo babies sporting milk mustaches.
• The ads are aimed at "the next generation of milk drinkers and plant-based enthusiasts," Silk said.
• The ads recall the "Got Milk?" campaign crafted by the dairy industry and started in the 1990s.

Silk's latest ad campaign for plant-based milk features the children of celebrities sporting milk mustaches. 

The food brand recruited the famous offspring, who are "dishing on how they enjoy plant-based products in their own lives," including Silk Nextmilk, an oat-coconut blend that the company says contains less sugar than rival products. The ads are appearing on social media as well as on billboards in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, Silk said on Wednesday.

The campaign features Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, the son of soccer legend David Beckham and Spice Girl Victoria Beckham; Ella Bleu Travolta, daughter of actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston; Sailor Brinkley Cook, daughter of supermodel Christie Brinkley; and members of Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal's family, such as stepson Myles O'Neal. 

The ad campaign comes after a December 2022 New York Magazine article on the children of Hollywood celebrities whose careers have gotten a boost from their famous parents. The piece examined examples of nepotism and christened the children "nepo babies."

While Silk doesn't use the term "nepo babies" in the campaign, the company picked the three cities for its billboard placements because they are "celebrity-rich environments," Olivia Sanchez, Danone North America's vice president of marketing, told Adweek.

The ad also harkens back to the "Got Milk?" ads that began airing in 1993. Those ads featured celebrities from Whoopi Goldberg to Frankie Muniz donning milk on their upper lip, presumably after taking a sip from a glass. David Beckham, Kelly Preston, Christie Brinkley, and Shaquille O'Neal all appeared in "Got Milk?" campaigns. 

The ad format was initially used by the California Milk Processor Board, though it was later adopted by groups representing milk processors and farmers in the rest of the US.

Sales of plant-based milks made from oats, almonds, and even macadamia nuts have grown to become the largest category of plant-based foods in the last several years. US consumers bought $2.6 billion worth of the alternatives to cow's milk in 2021, according to the Plant Based Foods Association.

Silk's campaign aims to "inspire the next generation of milk drinkers and plant-based enthusiasts with a beverage that is made from plants but tastes like milk, with 75% less sugar," the company said.