Vinamilk is one of the most-powerful companies in the country. It is partly-owned by the Vietnamese government. It and other dairy companies made television advertisements that showed smiling children who drank milk grew tall and fat.
The campaign worked. Vietnamese now believe it is important for children to drink milk in addition to eating more-traditional foods like rice and noodles. People were happy that milk had vitamin D and calcium. But they did not talk about other things that milk had, such as hormones, antibiotics, allergens, fat and sugar. And it had lactose, which causes problems for some people.