PETA revives "got beer?" campaign.

Associated Press--Got controversy?

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has revived its anti-milk "Got Beer?" campaign, with advertisements in four college newspapers Thursday urging students to abandon dairy in favor of the brewery.

"College students care about cruelty to animals, and they need to know if they're consuming dairy products they're promoting animal abuse and harming their own health," said Bruce Friedrich, director of vegan outreach for the Virginia-based organization.

The quarter-page ad in Penn State University's The Daily Collegian features a silhouette of a beer bottle and reads: "Got ... beer?! Better than milk, find out more at MilkSucks.com."

PETA first came up with the slogan--a spoof of the popular "Got Milk?" campaign--two years ago, but it was retired after being criticized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Lisa Ritchie, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of family and consumer sciences at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., said it was ridiculous to claim that drinking beer is healthier than drinking milk.

"I think it is a stretch to say that beer is going to be better, that you can't drink milk responsibly," Ritchie said. "Beer is an empty-calorie food where you get about 130 calories in a can. It's not a nutrient-packed substance. In an eight-ounce serving of milk, you get a lot of nutrients."

In addition to The Daily Collegian, the ad ran in student papers at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.; the University of Colorado in Boulder; and Florida State University in Tallahassee.

The campaign is targeted at the 10 schools identified by Princeton Review as the nation's top party schools. In addition to Penn State, Indiana, Colorado and Florida State, the list included the University of Alabama, Buffalo, Clemson, Florida, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

PETA also planned to run the ad at the University of Pennsylvania and at five schools Princeton Review identified as "stone-cold sober": Brigham Young, Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Ill., and the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard academies. Papers at Brigham Young and Penn have refused to run the ad.

"It has nothing to do with PETA, it has nothing to do with the fact that it refers to alcohol," said Matthew Mugmon, executive editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian. "It really was a wording issue, without getting into the specifics."

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, too, renewed its criticism of the campaign. Wendy Hamilton, president of MADD, cited recent studies about binge drinking on campus and called the ad irresponsible. "It's absolutely ridiculous ... it's an irresponsible publicity stunt that literally puts cows before kids. It's appalling." she said.