PUT THAT ON A MILK CARTON
In September 1982, Johnny Gosch went missing while delivering papers. In an effort to spread the word of his disappearance, his picture was printed on the side of milk cartons. He was the first missing child to be put on a milk carton, and this method was continued all the way through the 1980s.
The practice became obsolete when the Amber Alert was created in 1996, but the iconography of a missing person on a milk carton has cemented itself in pop culture. Characters from “Stranger Things” were put on the sides of milk cartons for promotion of the show, Eminem appeared on milk cartons in promotion of his new album and even Halloween costumes where you put your head in a foam milk carton and become a missing person yourself can be found at costume stores.
Yet, if you attempt to locate a real missing person milk carton from the 80s, you will find absolutely nothing. Over 5 billion of these were printed in the 80s, and yet, a year-long hunt for the mystical missing milk cartons has brought up absolutely no leads. From antique stores around America, to the many used items stores online, a milk carton with a missing person on it has never appeared, and no mention of this conspiracy can be found online.
SPOILED THEORIES
There are many ways you could explain away this phenomenon, all of which can be debated and disproven.
“Nobody kept old milk cartons, they threw them all away.”
This is not true. A quick search on eBay will show many vintage dairy products, including used milk cartons, empty butter boxes and yogurt containers.
One seller on eBay, “Loki887”, specializes in and sells vintage dairy products, including many milk cartons, some even dated back to the 50s. When asked, Loki887 says they’ve never sold or seen a missing person milk carton.
“Well nobody thought to collect such a strange thing.”
People collect everything. Is it not possible that someone kept a milk carton with someone they knew on it? Or that a museum would’ve kept that (highly publicized) first missing person milk carton? It’s not even that there are none for sale, but that a photo of one that wasn’t taken in the 80s simply doesn’t exist.
WORD ON THE STREET
What do normal people have to say about this? Has anyone even seen one of these things? Is this worth even caring about? Wilson Lam claims it’s a moral issue.
“It has to do with people not wanting to sell things with missing people on them,” Lam said.
A BREAK IN THE STORY
Wait…this just in, a missing person milk carton has just been listed on eBay, in a peculiar condition, that brings up more questions than answers.
The milk carton listed on eBay is priced at an absurdly high $435, but it’s the condition of the carton that is notable. The carton is flat. Unfolded and unused, probably taken straight out of the factory. There are many vintage milk cartons in this condition posted on eBay; it seems to be quite common that people, likely old milk plant workers, kept flattened, defective milk cartons. This raises the question however, why aren’t there more missing people on them? These cartons were mass produced, so there should be far more of these in circulation than there are. This is the first image of a missing person milk carton that’s been found to be taken during the 21st century, and it’s a defective milk carton taken straight from the processing plant? The first milk carton found on the internet, and it’s in mint condition? Where are the rest?
REWARD IF FOUND
Such a massive piece of pop culture deserves to be preserved. If you spot a missing person milk carton in the wild, immediately report to the email above. Reward is $10, but don’t be alarmed if it appears on ebay the next day for $400, it is simply part of the process. We will not rest until this case is closed, and the cartons are found once and for all.
