Formula marketing: Misguidance or exemplary?

Pregnant women and new moms are the target public for infant formula manufacturers and their marketing will thus be found were they come, look and read. (In The Netherlands marketing for breastfeeding substitutes up to 6 months is legally prohibited, but advertising #2 formulae towards the same public does the trick as well.) Stang et al studied the tools used in advertisements to sell their products. Often these turned out to be health claims: this or that formula brand will ensure better brain development or eyefunction, less tummy problems or decreases allergies. Stacks of research already exist to deny all those claims: formula always scores lower on the healthoutcomes than breastfeeding and the differences between brands are marginal.
Another disturbing development is the increasing offer of breastfeeding hotlines by formula manufacturers. This is expecially dangerous because it will create a ‘’feel-good’’ attitude of mothers towards the manufacturers: don’t they themselves admit that breast is best; even better than their own products?
With the WBW 2011 theme in mind it might be a good idea for people who want to positively communicate breastfeeding to take a look in the breastfeeding substitute marketeers’ kitchens. To allow breastfeeding it deserves, that the health of children and women deserves, we might want to exercise the same utterly successful method of communication.
Stang J, Hoss K, Story M: Health Statements Made in Infant Formula Advertisements in Pregnancy and Early Parenting Magazines. ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition  February 2010   vol. 2  no. 1  16-25
http://tumblingboobs.tumblr.com/post/1065910428/its-not-just-parenting-websites-promoting-similacs
http://dou-la-la.blogspot.com/2010/09/breast-is-best-sponsored-by-simfamil.html
http://www.borstvoeding.com/columns/een-kijkje-in-de-keuken.html