What happened
On September 23rd we sent, via certified email (PEC), the first 5,000 signatures of the appeal «Milk doesn’t make you grow» to the President and CEO of Rai, promoted together with the association Piano V. The letter was also sent to the Department for Information and Publishing of the Prime Minister’s Office – the office that decides which institutional messages air free of charge on public service broadcasting – to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, and, for information purposes, to AGCOM (the Communications Authority).
We are asking for two things: the immediate suspension of the ad on television networks, radio, RaiPlay and social media channels, and the adoption by Rai of internal guidelines requiring scientific verification of every institutional message with food or health content before broadcast. We have requested a written response within fifteen days.
Why we are challenging the ad
The campaign “Milk Makes You Grow,” commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and airing since September 8th, lasts thirty seconds and is made with AI-generated images. It opens with a breastfed newborn – “it’s with you from your very first steps” – and closes on a glass of cow’s milk with the claim “milk makes you grow.”
There are two problems. The first is the overlap between breast milk and cow’s milk: the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, while the Ministry of Health’s guidelines advise against cow’s milk in the first year of life. Placing them in sequence under a single claim suggests to parents a continuity that health authorities rule out.
The second is the idea that milk is necessary to grow: a claim not supported by any Italian or European nutritional guideline, as pointed out by Dr. Giada Guidi, scientific coordinator of REFOOD. The Guidelines for a Healthy Diet place milk and dairy products among the possible sources of calcium in a varied diet, not among essential foods.
The pediatrician’s view
This is also confirmed by Carmelo Pistone, a pediatrician specializing in diabetology, who wanted to support the appeal with this statement:
“As a pediatrician, I believe it’s important to move past the idea of cow’s milk as an essential food to ‘make children grow.’ The World Health Organization’s guidelines emphasize the importance of a varied and nutritionally adequate diet; the Italian Society of Pediatrics also advises against overdoing cow’s milk after the first year. After 12 months, a varied and well-planned diet can provide the necessary nutrients even through plant-based foods. Communication about infant nutrition should be based on scientific evidence, not on promoting a single food as indispensable.”
“If a company signed it, it would be misleading advertising”
Attorney Alessandro Ricciuti, president of REFOOD, observes:
“If the same message were signed by a company, it would be misleading advertising and a health claim banned by European regulation. We are challenging the use of a misleading message on a health-related topic, bearing the State’s logo and airing in the free-of-charge slots of public service broadcasting, for the sole purpose of promoting the private interests of an economic sector. The Service Contract requires Rai to act with fairness, verify sources, and pay particular attention to early childhood: we are asking Rai to suspend the ad and adopt guidelines requiring scientific verification of every institutional message with food or health content.”
Transparency: who made the ad, and how much did it cost?
On September 14th we submitted a civic access request to Masaf (Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry) to find out who conceived and produced the ad, under what procedure, and at what cost. That same day, the Ministry’s Transparency Officer forwarded the request to the relevant offices, asking them to publish the documents subject to mandatory disclosure. To date, the “Transparent Administration” section of the ministerial website shows no determination, contract or amount related to the campaign – unlike what has happened for other campaigns by the same Ministry. Masaf has until October 14th to respond.
The parliamentary question
On September 23rd, MP Eleonora Evi (PD) filed a parliamentary question addressed to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministers of Agriculture, Health, and Enterprises and Made in Italy. She asks that the documents, the contractor, and the costs of the campaign be disclosed, and that it be explained why the documentation has not been published; whether the ad underwent prior scientific review and what assessments allowed its broadcast in Rai’s slots; whether the broadcast will cease by September 30th, as required by the circular of the Department for Information and Publishing; and whether the Government intends to suspend the ad and introduce scientific verification criteria for future institutional messages.
From October 1st the ad should no longer be broadcast
There is a further element. Circular No. 1/2026 of the Department for Information and Publishing, dated July 16th, bans ads featuring AI-generated people and voices from Rai’s free-of-charge slots, and allows fully AI-made campaigns already commissioned to air only until September 30th, 2026. The milk ad is admittedly made with AI: starting October 1st, according to the same rules set by Palazzo Chigi (the Prime Minister’s Office), it should no longer be broadcast. We will verify this.
What you can do
The appeal remains open and every additional signature strengthens the request: sign here and share this page. In the coming days we will consider a formal complaint to AGCOM regarding oversight of the Service Contract obligations, and we will continue to follow the progress of the civic access request and the parliamentary question. We will keep you updated here.
