Documentary+, a nonfiction streaming service, will premiere “The Price of Milk,” an investigative pop-culture docuseries from XTR and People’s Television, on July 2. All four episodes will be available to stream across all Documentary+ platforms, including free on the Documentary+ streaming network.
Directed by Emmy-nominee Nicholas Bruckman (“Not Going Quietly,” “Minted: The Rise (and Fall?) of the NFT”) and Peabody-Award winner Yoni Brook (“Philly D.A.”), and produced by Jen Maylack, James Doolittle, Bruckman, and Brook, the series had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it screened in the NOW program. The series is also executive produced by XTR’s Justin Lacob, Matt Cherchio, and Bryn Mooser.
The film tells the untold story of the iconic ‘90s “Got Milk?” campaign and its impact on farmers, consumers, and public policy. Using interviews and archival footage, it moves from farms to the White House, diving into America’s love/hate relationship with milk, as well as the dairy industry’s grip on pop culture, politics, and food.
The series opens by examining how “Got Milk?” became a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1990s, deploying everyone from Frankie Muniz to Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and SpongeBob Square Pants to generate attention for all things dairy. However, the campaign became a boondoggle that never reversed declining milk consumption. Following the money, the series uncovers a dairy industry working with the U.S. government to fight the tides of America’s changing tastes.
“I grew up mesmerized by these 1990s ads – but behind them is a David vs. Goliath story and a battle for America’s refrigerators. I hope audiences discover there’s so much more to what’s on our plate, and what’s on our screens.” said Bruckman.
“A glass of milk is easy to take for granted, so I’m eager for audiences to meet the people for whom milk is really personal. As a filmmaker, I loved exploring how it’s more than a food, it’s a complicated part of our American identity.” said Brook.
The project has an unusual origin of its own. “The Price of Milk” was financed by Oatly, the global oatmilk company — whose only stipulation was that the series be about milk. The filmmakers retained full creative control and reported the story journalistically; the brand is not mentioned in the series except as a disclosing title card.
Here’s a look at the four episodes:
Episode 1 — Got Milked?: The “Got Milk?” campaign made milk mustaches ubiquitous in the 1990s. But who paid for it? A government-mandated milk slush fund. Husband-and-wife dairy farmers take on the admen and corporate interests behind the campaign.
Episode 2 — Dairy Never Dies: America’s unlikeliest tourist destination is a dairy-farm theme park in Indiana, with live calf births on stage and tens of thousands of cows behind the scenes. Journalists and activists uncover a dark story behind the curtain of the so-called “Dairy Disneyland”.
Episode 3 — Government Cheese: The origin story of the stuffed-crust pizza and the Taco Bell quesalupa begins in a government program inducing Americans to eat more dairy. As money flows to corporations, small dairy farms shut down, and a Wisconsin dairy-farmer-turned-whistleblower takes on “big milk.”
Episode 4 — The Kids Are Not Alright: Milk needs new mouths to survive. Students push back against mandatory milk cartons in the lunchroom, and climate activists call out cow manure’s greenwashing. Will milk lose its hold on kids’ stomachs — and minds?
