Watch the full ad here:

Dave's thoughts:

"Milk’s an unusual thing to advertise on telly, isn’t it?

No brand names. No dairies. Just… milk. It’s a bit like trying to advertise sand, or the

concept of the backflip. But that was the Milk Marketing Board’s job from the 1930s

onwards. They’d already had some belter slogans over the years, like “Drinka pinta

milka day” and “Milk’s gotta lotta bottle”. But the Accrington Stanley ad was their

magnum opus.

I was 7 when it first aired in 1989. It’s the first TV ad I ever remember. Probably

because I’m a Liverpool fan. Probably because I was around the same age as the

two actors in it. And also probably because these scouse kids sounded just like me.

I imagine the brief just said: “Make milk cool”. And this ad did. In the simplest way

possible. Just a really normal, relatable chat between two football-mad kids.

It packed loads of subtle messages into just a few lines of dialogue: a celebrity

mention with Ian Rush; a really hyperbolic benefit about milk being good for you;

some self-deprecation when one of the kids says “Milk? Uuuurgh”; even some

differentiation vs sugary soft drinks like lemonade.

But it’s the catchphrase that made this ad iconic. “Accrington Stanley, who are they?

Exactly.” The randomness of the football team (in the 8 th tier of English Football at

the time) is the perfect example of how unexpectedness can be really funny. And the

ultra-scouse delivery of “Egzakkly” from the kid drinking the milk made it an instant

meme, before memes were really a thing.

The Milk Marketing Board knew they were onto a winner, and repeated the ad for the

next seven years. And even today, if you shout the words “Accrington Stanley?” in

the middle of any UK town centre, you’re guaranteed a “Who are they?” in response.

The power of a funny catchphrase, eh?"