When the ‘got milk’ ad campaign started up, I thought it was extremely clever: short and sweet, getting its point across in a succinct and visually appealing manner. Some of my favorites were the ads with desserts (of course). Just staring at those cookies, or that twinkie, you couldn’t help but want one, and naturally, you were desperate for a glass of milk to go with it.
Then came the celebrity ads, and I liked them too. It amused me that they’d gotten these celebs all primped and posed and perfect and then dabbed on a little ‘milk mustache’. I still wonder what substance was filling in for the milk, because I don’t think it was milk. And the list of celebs (and characters) that appeared in these ads is amazing! 
So these ads still occasionally crop up in magazines, and I appreciate them for what they are: clever reminders to keep plenty of milk in our diets.
The copycats, or parodies, I do not appreciate quite as much. Initially I thought they too were clever, playing off a well-known and effective ad, and they ran the gamut from ‘got style’ (on t-shirts at the salon that cut my hair) to ‘got kids?’ and ‘got faith?’. Gradually they began to lose their impact. But, even now, I see new ones cropping up. I read them–on billboards or commercial vans–and think, ‘Oh come on!’ Two recent finds are ‘got mulch’ and ‘got leak’ on a plumbers van. Seriously? That’s not even grammatically correct. Please, people, I have one thing to say to you:
got imagination?
Couldn’t resist.