Got Milk? Sustainability transitions in culturally embedded institutions

Abstract: How to sustainably feed the world amounts to one of our biggest contemporary challenges. In Sweden, the environmental footprint of the dairy industry has caused a lively debate which culminated in a law-suit between LRF Mjölk and Oatly over the use of marketing phrases such as “Wow No Cow” and “No Soy. No Milk. No Badness”. Even though Oatly lost, their development was not hampered; thus, this thesis attempts to understand why that is. To accomplish this, a theoretical framework is created based on transition theory and institutional theory which explains how milk as a technological institution has become embedded in Swedish society. A discourse analysis of material published by LRF Mjölk and Oatly subsequently shows that sustainability discourses and a changed organizational landscape have put pressure on the dairy industry. This has opened a window of opportunity for change and by mimicking the central themes of the discourse; sustainability, health and nation, Oatly creates a competing narrative, the power of which is explained by its interdiscursivity and intertextuality.