Unfortunately, television is full of formula ads, for both infant and 
follow on formulas, and now for pediatric nutrition beverages (your kid 
doesn't eat well, so he needs formula forever!). They are most likely to 
run during programming that appeals to toddlers and preschoolers, 
figuring that these children are likely to be big siblings some day, and 
that their mothers are probably at least within earshot (hearing range). 
On Public Broadcasting System (PBS) there are no commercials, but there 
are announcements of the sponsor of each program. These announcements 
have grown from just the company name in past decades to the company 
name, chief products, and a slogan. (such as: "Barney is brought to you 
by PharmaConglomerate, makers of Einstein baby formula, with 
BrilliantAlgae fatty acids for a smarter baby.") That's a commercial if 
you ask me!

There is also formula advertising in women's magazines, particularly 
those targeted at pregnant women and those raising infants. There are 
also "sale" (discount) notices in multipage, full color advertizing 
inserts from large retailers that are distributed inside newspapers. 
These large flyers contain all the special priced items at the store 
chain for the week, and formula is often featured, usually on the baby 
page with diapers, wipes, baby clothes, bottles, baby furniture.

Sometimes there are full page ads in the advertising circulars that 
contain coupons for discounts on products. A few years ago one of the 
abm companies (Mead Johnson) made baby cereal "with the goodness of 
formula" that one could just add water to. They had a full page ad in 
the Sunday newspaper coupon circular. That was a way to advertise both 
the new cereal and the parent formula. Fortunately, that product flopped.

Formula companies also sometimes produce glossy magazines just to 
promote their formula. Gerber (years ago when they started making 
formula) produced a large format, full color magazine for pregnant women 
about fetal development, using Lennart Nilson's photos of babies in 
utero. Every other page was an ad for their formula, and alternate pages 
were content, this design ensured that you could not just tear out the 
ads. The photos were gorgeous, but I could not distribute them for 
obvious reasons.

Formula companies also get mothers names from hospitals, and deliver 
coupons and even a case of formula in the mail. I had my youngest at 
home, but Nestle/Carnation still managed to send me coupons for free 
cartons of follow on formula in the mail the day she turned 6 months!

So, you can see that in a climate where there are no controls whatsoever 
  on marketing (except for cigarettes), it's such a big deal that NYC 
city hospitals banned the bags.

Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC NYC

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