The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
NotCo parodied Parmalat's baby animals — CONAR pulled the ad in 48 hours
The plant-milk brand grew up Parmalat's 1996 mascot animals and gave them stomach aches. Lactalis called it IP theft. Brazil's ad regulator agreed.
NotCo · 2025-07-02
What happened
In early July 2025, Chilean foodtech NotCo launched a Brazilian campaign for its plant-based milk, NotMilk. The ad recreated Parmalat's iconic 1996 'Mamíferos' campaign — which showed adorable baby animals drinking milk — but with the animals fully grown and visibly uncomfortable after consuming dairy. The message was that milk causes problems the cute originals never hinted at.
Lactalis, which licenses the Parmalat brand in Brazil, filed a complaint with CONAR, Brazil's advertising self-regulation body, on 3 July, alleging improper use of intellectual property and dissemination of misinformation about dairy. CONAR granted an injunction on 4 July ordering the campaign's immediate removal.
NotCo took the campaign down on 9 July. The company published an open letter on Instagram saying the ad had 'ended up generating intolerance,' then posted an ironic provocation about the suspension the same day. No fine was imposed, but the campaign — created by agency David and produced by O2 — ran for less than a week.
Why it happened
- The parody was specific enough to trigger an IP claim: viewers recognised the Parmalat mammals at once, so Lactalis could argue the ad traded on its brand equity, not just a cultural memory
- Framing the parody as 'misinformation about dairy' gave CONAR a second ground beyond IP, widening the regulator's justification for acting
- NotCo's ironic post-suspension provocation kept the story alive but also confirmed Lactalis's framing that the campaign was designed to provoke rather than inform
- The campaign launched without apparent pre-clearance through CONAR's voluntary review, which would have flagged the IP risk before air
The lesson
A parody that needs the original to be recognised borrows more than attention — it borrows intellectual property, and the owner gets to decide whether the joke is funny.
Aftermath
NotCo continued selling NotMilk in Brazil without the campaign. The case was covered widely in Brazilian advertising trade press as an example of how challenger brands can overreach when parodying an incumbent's most protected creative asset. CONAR's injunction was one of its fastest in recent years.
Sources
- Valor Econômico: NotCo retira campanha do ar após polêmica com Parmalat
- Publicitários Criativos: Campanha da NotMilk sai do ar após decisão movida pela Parmalat
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