Le Mars, Iowa-based Wells’ Dairy Inc., makers of Blue Bunny ice cream, novelties and yogurt, has earned the legendary Good Housekeeping Seal for its “better-for-you” ice creams, dairy desserts and frozen novelties. The company’s Blue Bunny Carb Freedom™ frozen dairy desserts and novelties are two new product lines now backed by the Good Housekeeping Seal. Additional Blue Bunny products carrying the seal are Health Smart® bars, no-sugar-added reduced-fat ice creams and Sweet Freedom™ novelties. Since 1909, the Good Housekeeping Seal has been a highly recognized statement of the magazine’s renowned Consumer’s Policy, which states that if a product bearing the seal proves to be defective within two years of purchase, Good Housekeeping will replace the product or refund the purchase price. Any product bearing the Good Housekeeping Seal has gone through a rigorous evaluation process by the Good Housekeeping Institute.

Borden’s first national print campaign in years brings back a familiar face. Elsie the Cow is the main attraction in the campaign designed to introduce the cheese brand to a new generation of consumers, particularly mothers worried about their kids’ calcium intake. The ads made their debuts last month in Woman’s Day and Good Housekeeping magazines. As part of the campaign, consumers are invited to adopt a real cow at www.elsie.com. American Dairy Brands (ADB), a division of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), owns the exclusive license to manufacture and market cheese products under the Borden name.

Famed twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s ad for the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” campaign debuted on May 7. On Whymilk.com, the online educational resource for consumers from MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program), the ad reads, “We’re not little girls anymore. But that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped drinking our milk. We know about 15 percent of your height is added during your teen years and the calcium in milk can help. Who knows, you might be the next big thing.” Whymilk.com is funded by America’s milk processors and is designed and maintained to keep teens and moms engaged and educated about nature’s power drink.

America’s dairy producers, through their checkoff program, have helped introduce lowfat (1%) white and chocolate milk in fun Milk Jug packaging as part of the new McDonald’s Happy Meal® menu choices, as the chain rolls out these new milk products in more than 13,500 McDonald’s stores nationwide. The Milk Jugs are kid-friendly, colorful, resealable 8-ounce plastic containers of lowfat white or chocolate milk that feature Ronald McDonald riding a wave of milk. Starting this month, McDonald’s is the first fast-food restaurant to offer milk in this packaging nationwide. “Dairy producers played a key role in this launch through their checkoff program investment,” says Paul Rovey, an Arizona dairy producer and chairman of Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), which manages the national dairy checkoff. “If it weren’t for our self-help program to build demand, this probably wouldn’t have happened. Our investment in research to make milk more available to kids directly led to the Milk Jug offering at McDonald’s.” DMI conducted a year-long school milk pilot test of more than 100,000 elementary and secondary school students that found children consumed more milk when it was offered in different flavors and served cold in fun grab-and-go containers. McDonald’s then conducted its own pilot test, which saw a 400 percent increase in McDonald’s milk sales. “Results were so positive the chain decided to introduce the Milk Jugs nationally,” says Rovey.

Dairy Council of California has received three Sacramento Public Relations Association awards for its achievements in consumer communications. Dairy Council received a gold, silver and honorable mention award in the World Wide Web, short-term public relations campaign and promotional device categories, respectively. The organization says the awards speak to the excellent communications programs and campaigns it has that inform key audiences of the healthful benefits of milk and dairy foods. For more information about the awards, visit www.dairycouncilofca.org.

The American Cheese Society (ACS) invites the public to attend the Festival of American Cheeses July 24 at the Milwaukee Hilton City Center. Conference attendees and cheese enthusiasts will get the chance to sample over 600 cheeses. Tickets to this cheese-lovers paradise are $60 and may be purchased through the ACS Web site, www.cheesesociety.org.