It was a movement that seemed to unite all Australians.
Our dairy farmers were in trouble, and the call was put out to turn our backs on cheap supermarket milk and support local producers.
But time has moved on, and data from Dairy Australia has revealed that while Woolworths-branded milk dropped from 66 per cent of sales to 51 per cent in a single month, its market share has now risen back up to just under 60 per cent.
And when I heard the news this morning I wasn’t all that surprised.
Because two weeks ago I also succumbed to the lure of cheap milk.
So why did we start buying branded milk in the first place?
QUT Associate Professor in Marketing Gary Mortimer says it all comes down to ethics.
“So the milk thing is interesting, it talks about ethical consumption…” Dr Mortimer said.
“We’re concerned about supporting local businesses — and in this case farmers — but the challenge with this brand stuff is this barrier between ethical intent and ethical behaviour.
“Often what we see is we talk to the man in the street and they always say ‘we always want to support farmers … yes we want to support the little guy’.
“We have good intentions [but] we have barriers that fall in the way.”
Tom Godfrey from consumer group CHOICE say it shows people do have the power to influence the market, even if briefly.
“The temporary shift to purchase branded milk clearly demonstrates the power of consumer sentiment to drive change in markets,” he said.