The earnest voiceover in the TV commercials urged consumers to “trust us.”

Kids and old people appeared happily sipping the stuff.

A happy cow smiled for the camera.

The web site for Cyclone Dairy, (“Perfect Cows. Perfect Milk.”) went live late last month. The company even sent a street team out to hand out free samples and sing the praises of herds of Holsteins, all with exactly the same spots.

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But today, Ben & Jerry’s, the always relevant, activist and witty (The campaign flavor: Yes Pecan), pulled the plug on Cyclone.

“April Fools! Ben & Jerry’s is just kidding about Cyclone Dairy – but we’re serious about the need for a system to track cloned animals,” said Walt Freese, Chief Euphoria Officer for B & J, on the company’s website. “Americans should have the basic right to choose the foods they want to eat.”

“Ben & Jerry’s believes that we need a national clone tracking system so companies and consumers can avoid eating cloned foods if they so choose,” said Freese. “Ben & Jerry’s staged this event in the spirit of raising public awareness, defending consumer choice, working toward better policies on cloned animals and highlighting that the awful truth is that this kind of dairy company could open for business today.”

Can we clone creative efforts like this to educate the public about critical food issues?