History Main / FaceOnAMilkCarton

* In the ''{{Tom and Jerry}}'' movie, Robin's aunt has Robin's face printed on milk cartons when she runs away which is how she finds her.

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The United States has since developed the ''Amber Alert'' system, so in many cases, within a few hours of an abduction, a report of a missing child can be broadcast or in some cases posted on Expressway notice signs. In some cases the announcement can be passed on to the public in mere minutes, which makes the several weeks notice it would take to get a photograph on a milk carton superfluous. They are supplemented by ADVO cards, which have an ad on the front and a picture of a missing child on the back, and are mailed regularly to homes.

* One of the NonstandardGameOver sequences in ''ConkersBadFurDay'' is a milk carton with Conker's face on it. This only happens if you get a game over before seeing the cutscene wherein the BigBad orders his henchmen to capture Conker so he can use the squirrel as a replacement for his table's missing leg.

* On ''TotalDramaIsland'' Ezekiel (the first contestant voted off) is visible on a milk carton when Duncan and Courtney are raiding Chris and Chef's fridge.

* Rita and Runt show up as "Missing" on a milk carton in an ''{{Animaniacs}}'' sequence spoofing ''{{Rugrats}}''. Appropriately, this was around the time that [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome the characters themselves stopped appearing in the show]]...

* The movie ''{{Honey I Shrunk The Kids}}'' has Ron saying to Amy, "I hope your face ends up on a milk carton."

May also be used to [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] a character's disappearance or have part in a MythologyGag, but is hardly ever played straight anymore unless it's a PeriodPiece.

* In the Tom Hanks movie ''{{Big}}'', at one point the protagonist's picture as a child appears on a milk carton.

[[{{Janie}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/milk_carton.jpg]]
[[caption-width:171:Maybe [[SilentHill Harry Mason]] could have saved himself some trouble...]]

* The ''TeenTitans'' cartoon had a gag in which season-long villains who had not made any appearance in a while are shown on milk cartons.

* In the comic strip ''{{Milk and Cheese}}'' by Evan Dorkin, one of the titular characters is a carton of milk, and a picture of him as an infant appears on his own back in one storyline.

May also be used to [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] a character's disappearance or have part in a MythologyGag, but is hardly ever played straight anymore unless it's a period piece.

* ''MadMagazine'' (circa 2000) once joked that RealLife {{Animal Wrongs Group}}s care more about the cow used to produce a carton of milk than the missing child on the side.

[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/milk_carton.jpg {{Janie}}]]

-->Suzy Salmon, first paragraph chapter one

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/milk_carton.jpg

* In ''[[{{AllStarDCComics}} All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder]]'' a.k.a. ''ASBAR'', Superman sees the face of Dick Grayson on a milk carton. Particularly jarring, as Dick had been [[strike:kidnapped]] taken in by Batman ''that very day''.

* The music video to Eminem's song The Real Slim Shady shows Eminem's [[{{Mentors}} Mentor]] Dr. Dre on a milk carton (with a very beleaguered expression) just as the lyrics go ''And Dr. Dre says/Nothing motherfuckers Dr. Dre's dead/He's locked in my basement!''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/milk_carton.jpg
[[caption-width:171:Maybe [[SilentHill Harry Mason]] could have saved himself some trouble...]]

In the United States during the mid-1980s, there was a practice of putting the faces of children who had gone missing (and were presumably kidnapped or abducted) on a milk carton, in an attempt to get neighbors of the person who had abducted the child to notice and report him or her.

A DiscreditedTrope, if not a DeadHorseTrope. At this point, it has been parodied countless times and has entered the collective subconscious to the point that while people may not have actually seen an actual one in their lifetime, they still recognize it. In comedy, [[http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blosamamissing.htm adults]] can make an appearance on the carton.

*Parodied in PowerRangersTurbo where Elga puts Devatox's face on a milk carton.