You can walk into any classroom at Wilsonville, into any huddle of kids, and you’ll find a dozen bottles of Fairlife. In any trash can, you can find a layer of chocolate, caramel, and strawberry Fairlife settled freshly on the top. It makes sense that high schoolers are drinking this: 30g of protein in a bottle, it tastes good, and they’re relatively cheap. What hungry teen is giving a cost effective source of sustenance a second thought?

 Though this seems like the perfect drink, it’s well known that Fairlife recently settled a class action lawsuit for $21 million dollars. While they deny abuse of their cows, they settled to avoid further questioning. Are students’ purchasing habits impacted by this information? Are they purchasing less ethical than they think, or do they just not care?

Senior Teddy Skyler, an avid Fairlife proponent, wipes away his milk mustache and weighs in, “Oh, it’s just splendidly dairylicious. Magnificent protein composition.” As she finished her Fairlife, Anna Jardin added, “I’m team Fairlife for life!” 

Neither student had much to say in response to the ethics of the company, but they were surprised. However, some students have been moved by this information. Senior Hannah Wilken, for example, will not be spending another dime on Fairlife. She says, “I know Fairlife abuses their cows! I heard about the lawsuit! While it’s hard to ever guarantee ethical consumption, I know that Fairlife treats their cows inhumanely, so I choose not to support them.” 

It’s not always convenient to consider how ethically sourced your goods are, but it doesn’t hurt to do some extra research– you may learn something that motivates you to buy from another, more ethical brand.