Friday, April 6, 2018

157. BIRCH TREE MILK POWDER: Pre-Chernobyl Years (1969-1979)


BIRCH TREE PRINT AD, 1979.

BIRCH TREE MILK POWDER was a milk brand manufactured by Veghel-Holland Dairy, and distributed in the Philippines beginning in the late 1960s. It came in attractive cans showing a Holstein-Friesian cow grazing in an idyllic field dotted with—what else?—birch trees.

The powdered milk slowly build up its market as it began advertising in 1967, with rather generic ads, but showing foreign talents. The fact that it was imported from Europe was a plus, but what made it even more attractive was its affordable price, lower than rising leader  Nido. 

BIRCH TREE early Print Ad, 1969

By the late 70s, BIRCH TREE gained over other powdered milk brands and became a market leader. Its once-generic advertising became sharper as it strategically capitalized on its affordability. Hence, it was a  tasty, healthy milk that everyone can drink. This became the basis of its mid 1980s campaign--BIRCH TREE “It's Everybody’s Milk".

WATCH BIRCH TREE"EVERYBODY'S MILK"
1985  TVC HERE:
 
Birch Tree TVC 1985 version 2: uploaded by alanchan80, 
Nov. 3, 2015, via Mr. Jojo Devera of JDTV/Magsine Tayo Channel.

BIRCH TREE TV ads, many produced on videotape, lorded over the airwaves in the 1980s, featuring foreign imagery from Europe, including windmills and talking Holstein-Friesian cows. The brand even utilized popular TV host and radio announcer Helen Vela, superimposed on moving pictures of Holland, “the milk capital of the world”.

WATCH BIRCH TREE "HELEN VELA" 
1985 TVC HERE:
Birch Tree TVC featuring Helen Vela: uploaded by alanchan80,
 Nov. 1, 2015 via Mr. Jojo Devera of JDTV/Magsne Tayo Channel.

But then, in April 1986, the catastrophic Chernobyl incident happened, in which a fire set ablaze a nuclear power plant, resulting in a radioactive fallout that drifted  drifted over large parts of Soviet Union—including Europe.  The accident severely affected the dairy business of Europe—Holland included---as the grazing lands of cows were contaminated with radioactive particles.

Two months later, 39 containers of BIRCH TREE powdered milk and 4,000 cartons of Dutch Lady milk arrived in the Philippines. Though they shipment came with  armed safety certificates, tests conducted by the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission show the milk products to have high levels of radioactive substances—5 times the level of allowable contamination.

Thus, Health Minister Alfredo Bengzon ordered the recall of BIRCH TREE Milk Powder from the market. That would signal the downfall of the milk brand, and for some time, people shied away from BIRCH TREE. The campaign that touted the Dutch origin of the milk brand only added salt to injury.

BIRCH TREE PRINT AD, 1974.

As years passed, and as the Chernobyl incident was becoming a distant memory, efforts to revive the brand began with a TV commercial that reminded people that “you can’t put a good milk down”. BIRCH TREE loyalists continued to patronize the brand after the dust had cleared and the ban was lifted.

It took Century Pacific Food Inc. (CPFI), the Filipino food conglomerate founded in 1978 by Ricardo S. Po Sr., to revive the milk brand in 2001. It is currently manufactured by its business unit, the Snow Mountain Dairy Corporation, a business unit belonging to the Century Pacific Group of Companies, which, by 2008 became the 2nd largest liquid milk company in the country. It is hoped that BIRCH TREE will once again reclaim its place in the Philippine market as one of the leading players in the category, now that it is already manufactured locally.

SOURCES:.
Radioactive Dutch Milk Is Recalled - tribunedigital-chicagotribune,
Chernobyl: Poisoning the Third World,
Century Pacific Foods, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Pacific_Food
Birch Tree TVC 1985 version 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOU7ZWdlbI4, uploaded by alanchan80, Nov. 3, 2015, via Mr. Jojo Devera of JDTV/Magsine Tayo Channel.
Birch Tree TVC featuring Helen Vela: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-J6Wa1watE, uploaded by alanchan80, Nov. 1, 2015 via Mr. Jojo Devera of JDTV/Magsne Tayo Channel.

14 comments:

  1. Mula sa pagkabata ko, sa halip na evaporated milk, isa hanggang tatlong kutsarang Birch Tree ang binubuhos ko sa Champorado bago kumain. Nasubukan ko na ring gumamit ng ibang milk powder (Alaska, Anchor, etc.), pero wala pa ring tatalo sa Birch Tree! ;)

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  2. I really liked your article on Tree Milk Powder, its very useful information to all us and we as a family enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing this article with us. I recommend it for everyone to try once its a very amazing.

    dairy milk

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  3. good for my cat and myself... low cost, right for a low budget like me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not exactly a good idea. As cats are lactose intolerant, and you need cat-friendly milk, or they will suffer diarrhea.

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  4. masarap ang birch tree kahit walang asukal

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hope u can refer me an agent of birch tree here in bukidnon...i want a bulk purchase

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  6. I love the taste of birch Tree I'm looking for 2.5 big canned in market bit out of stock mostly

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  7. I would like to know where the milk powder comes from now. Nowhere on the packaging is it mentioned. Anchor, for example, clearly states its source being New Zealand. So is it still Holland? Or China?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please help my niece is suffering from cancer now, she is one of the baby born in early 80's who consume contaminated milk product of birch tree because of ignorance and since then she always experiencing lump comes out on every part of her body, any information who can provide us how can we get an assistance for her treatment or get some support from the company who is responsible in distributing contaminated milk that time we will appreciate it very much!...she is confined and treated now in Philippine General Hospital and her name is Rea Ramos...God bless to all those who will extend any information who will lead her to any assistance from responsible entity, thank you! GOD BLESS YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I bought my 8yr old kid a Nido fortigrow for about 2 weeks now, from Lactum to Nido fortigrow, but when he tasted the Birch Tree he liked the taste more,so this is his milk now. Thank you Birch Tree.

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