I was alerted by a Japanese friend about an advertisement in the
"Tokyo Newspaper" on July 23. The company "Pigeon," which makes
infant feeding bottles and other equipment (widely available
throughout Asia and in Australia - at least) plan to hold a Baby
Olympics, called "Neo Baby Pigeonpic" on September 18 in Yoyogi,
Tokyo. It is for babies under one year of age, and Pigeon especially
asks for non-Japanese babies to participate. There are four kinds of
contests, including a 10 metre crawling race and a *milk drinking
competition*.  The baby who finishes a bottle of 50cc milk (or
formula?) the quickest will win. The first prize is a travel voucher
worth 100,000 yen ($1,000), 2nd 50,000 yen ($500), 3rd 30,000 yen
($300). All participants will get 5,000 yen ($50). Pigeon invite a
total of 50 mothers and babies. Applications close August 26 and must
include a picture of the baby.

Where do I begin to tell you all how disgusted I am by this offensive
abuse of children. Will the mothers be training their infants ahead
of time to gulp their bottlefeeds fast? The message the mothers of
Japan will get is that babies drinking lots of artificial milk as
quickly as possible is desirable. Will some mothers starve their
babies on the day so they are ravenous for the big event? I am also
cynical about an event which appears to be a bottlefeeding photo
opportunity for the company - particularly one where the "healthiest"
or "chubbiest" babies are likely to be selected as partcipants from
their photos. The call for European babies is presumably because they
are still seen as the best role models to use in Asia to promote
whatever the company plans to promote (not breastfeeding).

Any ideas how we can support our Japanese colleagues in this issue?  I
understand it is difficult in their culture to be "activist, but
they would love some action from international colleagues.

The address for Pigeon Inc. is:
Kannda Tomiyamachou, 5 bannchi-1
Chiyoda-ku, 101 Tokyo, JAPAN
Phone +81-3-3252-4222 (English speaking international department)

The office of Pigeonpic:
3-7-16-106, Sendagaya,
Shubuya-ku, 151 Tokyo, JAPAN
tel:  +81-3-3402-7565
Sorry, I could not get a fax or e-mail for Pigeon or Pigeonpic.

Ros Escott
[log in to unmask]