Today, September 27th, is National Chocolate Milk Day, and in honor of the occasion, here is what might be the best Instagram account I’ve ever seen.
Los Angeles resident Zak Drummond is the man behind @borncasual, an Instagram account that is completely devoted to large, multi-image collages of photos of chocolate milk. To draw attention to his chocolate milk mosaics, Drummond often accompanies them with hashtags of other national holidays, such as #NationalMakeYourBedDay and #NationalSalamiDay.
I asked Drummond about his process, and why he’s remained so focused on spreading the gospel of chocolate milk.
So why did you decide to start dedicating your Instagram to chocolate milk and national holidays?
If you’re looking for a smart answer here, I don’t think I have one. I like chocolate milk, and about 8 weeks ago I decided to post a picture of chocolate milk. I did like anyone would and googled it. There were a lot of pictures, so I saved as many as I could to my phone and just kept it cruising. I’m not usually a dude of many words when it comes to my Instagram captions so the national holiday hashtag was an easy joke to incorporate. [It] kind of gave the whole thing a sense of motion, and maybe brought some awareness to the ridiculous things people are celebrating when they could be celebrating something more important: chocolate milk.
What’s your favorite national holiday and why?
I bet you’d expect me to say Chocolate Milk Day but I don’t even know. I probably rep Taco Day (October 4) pretty hard.. maybe Coffee Day (September 29) or specifically Caffeine Day (Caffeine actually has an entire month—it’s March)? I’ll play that game. Is there a Turn Your Bed Into a Fort Day? That’s one I’d like to see.
Do you use a special app to make these?
Yea, I use Giant Square. If there’s a better app for this kind of thing I haven’t found it yet.. or if there’s some more legitimate artistic process I don’t know anything about it. I’m just trying to get these milks out.
Powder or syrup?
I’m going with powder. It reminds me of my childhood (even though I definitely grew up in a syrup household so I don’t know what that’s about) and the grittiness makes me believe it’s somehow healthy? What’s wrong with me?
What are your thoughts on strawberry milk?
I’ve NEVER had strawberry milk. But if my thoughts on strawberry milk can be linked to my opinion of strawberry ice cream then it’s probably a lot higher now than it was when I was a kid. It used to be garbage and now I don’t mind it at all. In fact, I kind of wish I had some right now. I’m also intrigued by vanilla milk, which I’ve also never drank…or drunk. Whatever. Shouts to coffee milk, though.
How many individual posts do you usually have to make to create the whole image?
It depends. For a while now I’ve been posting 3 photos a day to complete a single layer of the image. I don’t know where the idea came from to expand into my gallery and blow up the images. I know I’d been following @auniqueting and I really liked what they were doing, and Jaden Smith does some cool gallery formatting. I like the idea of using Instagram in a different way.
Are you doing anything special to celebrate #NationalChocolateMilkDay?
I’m probably going to drink some chocolate milk. I actually haven’t had that much since I started posting…maybe two or three glasses? My problem with chocolate milk is, I drink it really fast. And when it’s gone, I want more.
Rank from best to worst: Yoo-hoo, Hershey’s, Nesquik.
Yoo-hoo (because my mom never let me have it) Hershey’s (because their packaging is so legit) and then Nesquick (because that rabbit is a total rip off of the Trix rabbit…right? get that guy out of here)
Do you think you’ll continue with this project, and are you working on any other creative endeavors?
Yeah, I’m definitely going to continue expanding on what I’ve started with my account. I don’t see myself dipping back into posting single frame shots of “this is my dog,” “this is my lunch,” “this is a sunset omg.” I’ve definitely done that, but what I’m doing now is fun and funny and that’s all I need to keep it going.
I’m also thinking about getting into amateur bodybuilding.. I hear those guys drink a lot of chocolate milk.
Elena Scotti is a New York-based visual artist and Fusion’s senior photo editor and illustrator. She eats more pizza than your entire family combined.
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