Can This "Suggestive" 1930s Mickey Mouse Milk Ad Possibly Be Real?
Description: Viral image / Hoax
Circulating since: 2011 (or earlier)
Status: Fake
Analysis: This image has been circulating for several years and crops up frequently on sites like Pinterest and Reddit. The earliest post I've found is a September 29, 2011 entry on Boing Boing describing the pictured advertisement as "a relic of olde-world naiveté."
The ad copy reads as follows:
"Outside of you, Mickey — that milk is the best thing in the world!" enthuses a grinning Minnie Mouse while pointing to a giant bottle of Grand Rapids Creamery milk.
"INSIDE of you, Minnie," Mickey Mouse responds, "my milk is the best thing in the world!"
It's not wholly implausible that such a risqué ad, whether unintentionally suggestive or not, could have been published in some more naive era, say the 1930s, nor that the innuendo that makes it so funny to us now could have gone right over the heads of its intended audience. We've seen examples of this before.
Moreover, a milk company called Grand Rapids Creamery really did exist, and published a monthly promotional comic book during the mid-1930s using Disney characters to advertise its products. An ad almost identical to the one pictured above appeared in the June 1934 issue of Grand Rapids Creamery's Mickey Mouse Magazine, but here's the thing. In the original ad copy Mickey Mouse didn't say, "INSIDE of you, Minnie, my milk is the best thing in the world!" What he actually said, more accurately mirroring Minnie's words, was, "INSIDE of you, Minnie, that milk is the best thing in the world!"
In short, the text in the viral version has been altered to yield a verbal double entendre that didn't exist in the original.
Don't feel bad if you were fooled by it. So was BuzzFeed writer Brian Galindo, not to mention E! Online correspondent John Boone, who wrote: "Maybe it's just an innocent little double entendre that the ad agency thought was clever and — wink wink — a little bit naughty, do you get it?" The Photoshop job was so convincing that it was included in a November 21, 2012 Cracked.com feature, "6 Retro Ads With Accidental Sexual Innuendos."
Turns out it was an example of new-world, not "olde world," naiveté.
Disney urban legends
The Walt Disney Company, Disneyland, and Disney cartoon characters have been the subjects of many urban legends and online hoaxes over the years. One recent hoax falsely claimed that Harry Potter actress Emma Watson is set to star in a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Another used doctored images to demonstrate an "amazing likeness" between photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding to Disney's 1950 animated classic, Cinderella. And then, of course, there's the classic urban legend claiming that when Walt Disney died in 1966 his body was cryogenically frozen and preserved for future revival at a secret location in Disneyland. Not true. His body was cremated, in accordance with his wishes.
Sources and further reading:
Mickey Mouse Milk Ad Is a Relic of Olde-World Naiveté (Or It's Just Rude)
Boing Boing, 29 September 2011
'Accidentally' Sexual: 17 Instances of Actual Food Porn
FoodBeast.com,10 February 2013
This Vintage Ad for Mickey Mouse's Milk Is Going to Ruin Your Childhood
BuzzFeed, 30 June 2014
Comic Book Legends Revealed #483
Comic Book Resources, 28 June 2014
Disney Theories and Urban Legends - A Comprehensive List
E! Online, 7 April 2014
Last updated 02/18/15
Circulating since: 2011 (or earlier)
Status: Fake
Analysis: This image has been circulating for several years and crops up frequently on sites like Pinterest and Reddit. The earliest post I've found is a September 29, 2011 entry on Boing Boing describing the pictured advertisement as "a relic of olde-world naiveté."
The ad copy reads as follows:
"Outside of you, Mickey — that milk is the best thing in the world!" enthuses a grinning Minnie Mouse while pointing to a giant bottle of Grand Rapids Creamery milk.
"INSIDE of you, Minnie," Mickey Mouse responds, "my milk is the best thing in the world!"
It's not wholly implausible that such a risqué ad, whether unintentionally suggestive or not, could have been published in some more naive era, say the 1930s, nor that the innuendo that makes it so funny to us now could have gone right over the heads of its intended audience. We've seen examples of this before.
Moreover, a milk company called Grand Rapids Creamery really did exist, and published a monthly promotional comic book during the mid-1930s using Disney characters to advertise its products. An ad almost identical to the one pictured above appeared in the June 1934 issue of Grand Rapids Creamery's Mickey Mouse Magazine, but here's the thing. In the original ad copy Mickey Mouse didn't say, "INSIDE of you, Minnie, my milk is the best thing in the world!" What he actually said, more accurately mirroring Minnie's words, was, "INSIDE of you, Minnie, that milk is the best thing in the world!"
In short, the text in the viral version has been altered to yield a verbal double entendre that didn't exist in the original.
Don't feel bad if you were fooled by it. So was BuzzFeed writer Brian Galindo, not to mention E! Online correspondent John Boone, who wrote: "Maybe it's just an innocent little double entendre that the ad agency thought was clever and — wink wink — a little bit naughty, do you get it?" The Photoshop job was so convincing that it was included in a November 21, 2012 Cracked.com feature, "6 Retro Ads With Accidental Sexual Innuendos."
Turns out it was an example of new-world, not "olde world," naiveté.
Disney urban legends
The Walt Disney Company, Disneyland, and Disney cartoon characters have been the subjects of many urban legends and online hoaxes over the years. One recent hoax falsely claimed that Harry Potter actress Emma Watson is set to star in a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Another used doctored images to demonstrate an "amazing likeness" between photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding to Disney's 1950 animated classic, Cinderella. And then, of course, there's the classic urban legend claiming that when Walt Disney died in 1966 his body was cryogenically frozen and preserved for future revival at a secret location in Disneyland. Not true. His body was cremated, in accordance with his wishes.
Sources and further reading:
Mickey Mouse Milk Ad Is a Relic of Olde-World Naiveté (Or It's Just Rude)
Boing Boing, 29 September 2011
'Accidentally' Sexual: 17 Instances of Actual Food Porn
FoodBeast.com,10 February 2013
This Vintage Ad for Mickey Mouse's Milk Is Going to Ruin Your Childhood
BuzzFeed, 30 June 2014
Comic Book Legends Revealed #483
Comic Book Resources, 28 June 2014
Disney Theories and Urban Legends - A Comprehensive List
E! Online, 7 April 2014
Last updated 02/18/15