Mom always said milk was good for you. But Mom hasn't been heeding her own advice. For decades, milk consumption has trickled downward while that of cola has nearly tripled. Among beverages, milk ranks fourth in popularity after soft drinks, coffee and beer.
Now, armed with a frothy $52 million celebrity ad campaign and a cartful of new milk beverages, the $14 billion industry is battling to reverse the tide of fluid milk's 30-year decline, defend itself from the onslaught of iced teas and designer waters and reformulate its homogenous image.
Since the American dairy industry began in 1611 with the...