Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Wed, 20 Sep 2006 07:58:42 EDT |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
NABA is just completing the US country report for the recent Code monitoring
project we conducted. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report
showed that infant formula advertising in the USA has increased from about
7000 ads in 1999 to over 10,000 in 2004, totaling 40,000 during this time.
Formula companies spent $29 million in 1999 for TV and print ads, increasing to
$46 million in 2004, for a total of $223 million during this time. This is
probably an underestimate. TV ads from Nestle are common. Advertising has
become more aggressive, especially if breastfeeding rates go up and birth rates go
down. Much of the print advertising is false and misleading, helping to
deceive parents and health care providers into recommending and using the
products. Formula companies fight hard to make sure nothing interrupts their
essentially unrestricted and unmonitored peddling of the products. Most of the
challenges to formula advertising comes from rival formula companies, not from the
Federal Trade Commission where it should. They don't file lawsuits and go
through the court system because it is expensive and invites negative publicity
and attention from regulatory agencies. They typically use the Better
Business Bureau to mediate disputes but are not required to abide by any decisions
made in that venue.
The hospital gift bags are an important part of their marketing strategy. If
you go to _www.banthebags.org_ (http://www.banthebags.org) there is a lead
article on the home page discussing the recent Ross Products recall of
discharge kits with defective formula and suggestions on how to take advantage of
this. It's always amazing that hospitals will give out these "gifts", not
record the lot numbers of which bags were given to which mother, and then be
totally unable to warn parents of defective formulas in the bags during a recall.
Talk about liability!
In print ads, sometimes the citations for the claims do not even relate to
the claim or justify the statement. I have been asked numerous times when the
new US country report will be available. We are hoping to have it published
by the end of the year but are in great need of funding for the printing of
hard copies. Too bad NABA doesn't have the ad budget of the formula companies!
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
|
|