A new three paper series has been published in The Lancet that calls for an end to irresponsible and exploitative formula milk marketing techniques.
Introduction
Breastfeeding is widely recognized as the best way to provide essential nutrients and health benefits to infants. However, despite the recommendations of organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the use of formula milk remains widespread. A new three-part series published in The Lancet highlights the need to end exploitative and irresponsible marketing tactics used by formula milk companies.
These companies manipulate scientific information and exploit the emotions of parents to generate sales, often at the expense of families, women, and children. The series calls for stronger regulations and a legal treaty to end political lobbying by formula milk companies, and urges more effective support for breastfeeding. The authors argue that breastfeeding is a collective responsibility of society, and call for greater promotion, support, and protection for the practice.
Strengthening Regulations
The experts argue that regulations must be urgently strengthened and properly implemented to end exploitative formula milk marketing tactics. They also call for an international legal treaty to end political lobbying by formula milk companies, and urge more effective breastfeeding support worldwide.
WHO Recommendations on Breastfeeding
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. However, less than half of infants globally follow these recommendations and formula milk sales are on the rise.
Economic and Political Power of Formula Milk Companies
The Lancet series highlights the economic and political power of dominant formula milk companies and public policy failures. These factors prevent millions of women from breastfeeding as recommended.
Breastfeeding is Society’s Collective Responsibility
The authors call for more promotion, support and protection for breastfeeding, and a better-trained healthcare workforce. Professor Nigel Rollins from the WHO states that formula milk sales are a multi-billion-dollar industry that uses marketing and political lobbying to exploit the emotions of parents. He says it’s time for this to end and for women to be empowered to make informed choices free from industry influence.
Babies Benefit from Breastfeeding
Professor Rafael Pérez-Escamilla from Yale University explains that babies are most likely to survive and grow to their full potential when breastfed. Breastfeeding promotes brain development, protects against malnutrition and diseases, and reduces risks of obesity and chronic diseases in later life.
Barriers to Breastfeeding
Professor Linda Richter from Wits University says that women face barriers such as insufficient parental leave and lack of support in healthcare and the workplace.
How the formula milk industry is using exploitative marketing practices
The formula milk industry has made several profits which benefit companies located in high-income countries, the Series stated. Low-and middle-income countries are the ones most affected due to social, economic and environmental harms associated with the formula milk industry’s marketing tactics.
In 1981, the World Health Assembly, triggered by The Baby Killer investigative report into Nestle’s marketing of formula milk in the Global South in the 1970s, developed the voluntary International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions (the Code). However, the milk formula industry continues to violate the Code through its marketing techniques. Over the past twenty years, the sales from commercial milk formula have rapidly increased. Now, they are at more than $55 billion a year.
Parents’ concerns about the health and development of their children
Some of the exploitative tactics used by the formula milk industry to sell their products include taking advantage of parents’ concerns about the health and development of their children. Some parents believe that their children experience disrupted sleep and persistently cry because the breast milk they consume is insufficient. This is what urges them to feed formula milk to their children. However, the unsettled sleep behaviour of kids has nothing to do with the consumption of breast milk. Rather, such behaviours are common. Therefore, it is important to support mothers so that their concerns can be addressed without the use of formula milk, the Series said.
Poor science to suggest
Professor Linda Richter, Wits University, South Africa, said the formula milk industry uses poor science to suggest, with little supporting evidence, that their products are solutions to common infant health and development changes. Advertisements for baby formula milk show that consumption of the product will alleviate fussiness in infants, increase with their night-time sleep, and encourage superior intelligence.
There are often labels on the packaging of baby formula milk that use words such as ‘brain’, ‘neuro’ and ‘IQ’ with images, because the companies want to emotionally manipulate parents into believing that the consumption of this product will help with early development. However, studies have shown no benefit of these product ingredients on academic performance or long-term cognition, Richter explained. The authors noted in the series that the formula milk industry frames breastfeeding advocacy as a moralistic judgement that is anti-feminist and damaging to women. Meanwhile, the industry presents milk formula as a convenient and empowering solution for working mothers.
Digital communication and irresponsible marketing
Digital communication also plays a major role in the irresponsible marketing of baby milk formula products. This is because digital marketing, such as industry-paid influencers, use tactics such as sharing the difficulties of breastfeeding. Also, there are industry-sponsored parenting apps with 24/7 chat services that enable people to place orders and avail free samples online.
Exploitative Tactics of Formula Milk Industry
The formula milk industry violates the 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes through its marketing techniques. Some of the exploitative tactics used include manipulating parents’ concerns about their children’s health and development and poor science to suggest that formula milk is a solution. The industry also uses gender politics to sell its products and exploits the lack of support for breastfeeding by governments.
Conclusion
The authors call for wide-ranging actions across different areas of society to support mothers in breastfeeding. Formula milk companies must be held accountable for their exploitative marketing practices and stop violating the 1981 Code.
(India CSR)
