Slathered in milk mustaches and posed in front of supermodel Tyra Banks and home run slugger Mark McGuire, Iowa State students smiled for the camera Monday afternoon as part of an event staged by the “Got Milk?” nationwide campaign.

“Got Milk?,” which has brought advertising featuring celebrities with milk mustaches into the pop culture mainstream, is touring 50 college campuses nationwide in an effort to increase students’ consumption of cow juice.

ISU students were photographed with the trademark mustaches Monday in the Northwest Study Lounge of the Memorial Union. Afterwards, they received a “Got Milk?” T-shirt and various other milk-related paraphernalia.

It seems, said “Got Milk?” officials, that college students forget about milk when they go to college and start altering their diets.

“This is the fun side that you’re seeing, but it’s really a health-education campaign,” said Jeff Beringer, tour coordinator with “Got Milk?”

Beringer was snapping Polaroids of ISU students with mustaches as he discussed students’ disinterest in calcium consumption. The mustaches are made out of a “milk shake mix” containing whole milk and vanilla ice cream, the same concoction that the celebrities wear for the national ads.

Students should be drinking about three glasses of milk per day, Beringer said, or else finding other ways to supplement their calcium diet.

Paula Yates, tour coordinator, agreed that milk’s one of the first things to go when students head to college.

“There is a whole set of nutritional elements that get lost,” she said. “Water and milk are replaced with beer and soda.”

Mark Coberley, ISU head athletic trainer, was on hand as a resource for the event.

“We want to make everybody aware that the No. 1 drink that people stop drinking when they go to college is milk,” Coberley said, adding that despite what some people believe, bones don’t stop growing until people reach the age of 35.

“The average student drinks about one-half a glass of milk a day – that’s about 200 milligrams,” he said, noting that they should be consuming about 1,000 milligrams per day.

ISU athletes, Coberley said, drink on average about two and a half 8-ounce glasses of milk per day, still slightly less than what they should be getting.

The winner of the ISU milk contest will be featured in an ad in the Iowa State Daily, as well as on the “Got Milk?” Web site, www.whymilk.com.

The winner of the nationwide contest will appear in a milk ad in Rolling Stone magazine.

But the students who posed for “Got Milk?” cameras Monday seemed more interested in the free T-shirts than their chances for fame.

Heather Reinhart, junior in marketing, usually studies in the Northwest Lounge and decided to participate in the milk event on a whim. She is, however, an avid milk drinker.

“I drink a lot of milk,” Reinhart said, adding that she and one of her sorority sisters are the only women in their house who prefer 2 percent to skim. “We drink 2 percent with every meal.”

Reinhart was familiar with the national “Got Milk?” campaign, and she said she appreciates the college event.

Jeff Barton, an undeclared freshman, spilled a little of his milk mustache mix before his big close-up. Instead of wiping it away, he opted to pose with manic grin on his face.

Barton said he was glad to be a part of the campaign, even though it was on a whim. “It’s a free T-shirt and milk shake — what the heck,” he said.

Also a fan of milk, Barton said he drinks the beverage regularly (“2 percent — it’s awesome”), and he thinks the “Got Milk?” campaign’s a pretty effective concept.

“With the celebrities, they’re role models,” he said. “When you see them drinking milk, you know, you look up to them.”

Victor Shenton, senior in visual studies, and Steve Winders, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences, posed together for the milk event. They both work for the Student Union Board, and they joked their boss made them get their picture taken.

Winders called the event “a tasty experience,” but he doesn’t get in the recommended three glasses of milk a day. “I don’t know — I don’t go shopping very often.”

Shenton doesn’t ever drink milk. “I don’t have a refrigerator. Because of my current living situation, I don’t drink milk. It doesn’t store very well on a shelf.”

Beringer said he expected about 150 to 200 people to attend the event. The next stop for the milk campaign is Syracuse, N.Y.