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I found a recent post in 9gag that states:

Did you know?
7% of American adults (17.3 million people) believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

There's no source to their claim. Is there any truth to their statement?

cow theory

Sklivvz
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TheChetan
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    Of course, who is to say that chocolate milk doesn't come from brown cows? – NPSF3000 Jun 18 '17 at 06:31
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    Ideally, the answer should include the exact wording of the survey question. Technically speaking, some chocolate milk may come from brown cows ... but have cocoa or some such additive added to it. – Andrew Grimm Jun 18 '17 at 07:02
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    If I saw such a multiple choice question, I might have trouble to resist selecting the "brown cow". – Peter Jun 18 '17 at 15:00
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    Looks more like, "_7% of online quiz takers have a sense of humor_". I'd totally click the "brown cow" bubble. – Nat Jun 18 '17 at 17:06
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    I wouldn't be surprised of those results, considering how many people believe in really stupid things. I mean, even flat earth is becoming a thing... – T. Sar Jun 19 '17 at 18:44
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    When I was in Switzerland a few weeks ago, pretty much all the dairy cows I saw (and they are everywhere) where a light brown color. So guessing that chocolate milk comes from brown cows doesn't seem unreasonable. – Jayson Virissimo Jun 19 '17 at 22:58
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    @JaysonVirissimo guess Dutch cows give stragiatella milk then. Almost all are white with brown or black patches :) – jwenting Jun 20 '17 at 10:52
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    Turns out this is a "Moo Meme", launched as part of a major marketing effort. A website called "AdvertisingAge" discussed this about two weeks before it launched: ["Dairy Industry Ready to Remind Us Just How Much We Love It"](http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/industry-reminds-people-love-dairy/309013/) (2017-05-17). – Nat Jun 21 '17 at 19:56
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    funny - this was in my Quora Digest today (https://www.quora.com/Why-do-7-of-American-adults-believe-that-chocolate-milk-comes-from-brown-cows/answer/Ed-Caruthers?srid=teCA) – warren Jun 23 '17 at 18:00

1 Answers1

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According to CNN, the number is from an online survey by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The website of the center does not contain the survey question or any other information about this issue, and a website related to the center only contains a brief news article, which points to a Today news article (the undeniablydairy.org website named in the graphic only contains a link to the same Today article). The Today article expands the claim, stating that in addition to 7% of people believing that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, 48% of people were unsure of where it comes from.

The Washington Post puts this number in a larger context of American illiteracy of agriculture.

tim
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    So if I understand, the survey is almost certainly not statistically valid. – Flimzy Jun 18 '17 at 09:26
  • @Flimzy too small a sample size, or too unrepresentative? – Andrew Grimm Jun 18 '17 at 11:56
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    @AndrewGrimm Any internet questionnaire is inherently pre-selecting. – sgf Jun 18 '17 at 12:00
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    And how many people were joking? – Daniel R Hicks Jun 18 '17 at 12:05
  • This is my problem too, there seems to be no link to the actual survey. We don't know how valid the actual survey is – TheChetan Jun 18 '17 at 15:22
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    @AndrewGrimm: It's an online poll, so it's not a valid sampling. – Flimzy Jun 18 '17 at 16:12
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    Can't find anything about the actual study online, beyond what @tim wrote up here. However, it looks like the source is a group that focuses on studies related to the dairy industry; I haven't looked through their financials, but I'd guess that their primary revenue stream comes from getting industry players to pay them for info, including consumer perceptions. Getting a viral story like this is a huge win for them; it means having a better argument for why dairy companies should pay them. So, they seem to have little incentive to _not_ report something funny like this. – Nat Jun 18 '17 at 17:50
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    "The Washington Post puts this number in a larger context of American illiteracy of agriculture." Demonstrating that at least one WP journalist has an 'illiteracy' of polling and correct interpretation. – NPSF3000 Jun 19 '17 at 08:31
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    7% essentially covers IQs of 78 and lower. – user2338816 Jun 19 '17 at 11:37
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    @NPSF3000 Nevermind an editor with an axe to grind, or just an eye for clickbait headlines regardless of truth. – Ernie Jun 19 '17 at 23:16
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    The today.com article in turn references foodandwine.com, which links back to undeniablydairy.com (which just redirects to a particular part of the dairygood.org page). So the root of the story seems to be link cycle. – Sebastian Redl Jun 20 '17 at 12:26
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    @SebastianRedl [Obligatory XKCD](https://xkcd.com/978/) – T. Sar Jun 20 '17 at 13:36
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    Let us note that chocolate milk most likely DOES come from brown cows. But not (most likely) *exclusively* from brown cows. – Larry Gritz Jun 22 '17 at 18:14