FROM: Sturgess, Frances Coulter
TO:[log in to unmask]
   [log in to unmask]
SUBJECT: AXA/Equitable Ad
DATE: 10-14-97   15:30 EST
PRIORITY: 

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This is the letter I sent in response to Rachael's info---(follows)



I got the following message from a colleague on a health info list. 
Apparently in the desire to enroll more people on your health insurance
plan
your ad people put your logo on a baby bottle, thinking this would
symbolize
your support for good infant care and dads role as provider.  This may
backfire on you.  Many more dads, at whom the ad is aimed, as well as
other
heads of household are increasingly aware that breastfeeding is the best
"health *assurance*" a baby can receive.  Artificial feeding is still
more
common after the first few days or weeks, but the Surgeon Generals of
the US
and the American Academy of Pediatrics, to name but a few health
organizations, have issued policy statements supporting the need to
increase
the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding through the baby's first
year
and more.  Statistically, breastfed infants have fewer health risks and
breastfeeding moms who return to work have fewer days out with sick
infants.
   I can send you bibliographical info to support the above.  As a
health
insurer, it would seem in your own best interest to better promote
breastfeeding, as this would reduce the payments you make to your
providers.
  If you feel a need to show dad involved in feeding the baby, have him
bring
the infant to mom with your logo on the blanket--or changing the baby
after
the feeding!  At the very least put your logo on a prominently displayed
breast pump rather than on a bottle. (And reimburse providers for
lactation
consultant visits).  While bottles can hold pumped breast milk, the
association/message is usually promoting formula.  Evidence is also
available
that formula is not as benign as many think, just because of the
increased
possibilities for human error in formulation, contamination, expiration,
etc,
even leaving out the issues of digestibility and human immunities.
   Thank you for your consideration.

Frances Sturgess, RD, MPH, Public Health Nutritionist, California
Breastfeeding Mediawatch
cc National Breastfeeding Mediawatch
---------------------------------------
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Just saw another... ad with a bottle in it .... insurance/investment
conglomerate AXA/Equitable.  The first shot is ofa father awakening in
the
night to the sound of a baby crying in another room.
Dad gets out of bed, goes to Junior's crib and picks him up.  With a 
voice-over about wanting to take care of and protect Junior, you see the
kid
growing up in various scenes, with the AXA/Equitable logo prominently
displayed: (1) onthe blocks he plays with as a toddler, (2) on the
license-plate on his bike as he delivers papers as a school-age boy,(3)
on the
door to the house as he  runs inside from getting the mail (4) in the
background at his college graduation, (5) the scene returns to the
nursery,
where the logo appear on -- you guessed it -- Junior's bottle as Dad
feeds him
in the night.

It seems to me that the advertising agencies need education.

Here are some useful addresses/phone numbers:

Media Contacts

Corporate Information  Nancy M. Amiel
                               212-314-2811

Information                [log in to unmask]
Internet Address        http://www.equitable.com