Hi everyone!  Just wanted to share good news.  I am not on AOL but have a
close friend that is a chat host for them.  She recently sent me a Moms
Online  web page that had a Carnation banner on it.  When you clicked on
it, you got tons of information about pregnancy, nutrition, breastfeeding,
etc.  Some of the information was OK, but as usual with abm companies,
there were many subtle references to breastfeeding being difficult,
painful, etc.  Anyway, this chat hostess let the powers that be at Moms
Online know that many moms were unhappy with this advertising relationship.
 After only 2 days, they removed the ad!!!  Here is the letter that was
written to my friend, with permission to share.

                          Pam Holland, IBCLC
                          WIC Breastfeeding Coord.
                          Savannah, GA

<<Dear ****,

Thanks so much for writing to me in protest about the Carnation Infant Formula
banner on Moms Online.  You will be happy to hear that as of today we have
taken the banner down, and will no longer be advertising Carnation infant
formula on Moms Online.

Upon hearing from many of you that the Nestle boycott was still active (and
doing further research), we decided today to take the banner down, even though
the financial incentive was strong.  Originally, when Carnation approached us,
we were under the impression that the 1977 US-led Nestle boycott had ended in
1984, after Nestle complied with the 1991 WHO International Code of Marketing
of Breast-milk Substitutes.  Given the very real need for infant formula (for
some mothers who can't breastfeed, or for babies whose mothers die, etc.) and
the good-faith effort that Nestle had made to right a bad history of unfair
marketing in third-world countries, we believed it was fair to advertise their
product.  Apparently, however, there are still active boycotts of Nestle (the
UK Baby Milk Action group, for one), and evidence is unclear at best as to
whether or not Nestles complies to the code equally in all international
markets.  Perhaps more importantly, hosting the Nestle banner upset many of
our most loyal Moms, and we definitely care what you think!  As a final irony,
we discovered that Article 5.1 of the WHO code expressly forbids any marketing
of breastmilk-substitute products -- so the hosting of the banner itself is a
violation (<A HREF="http://www.gn.apc.org/ibfan/fullcode.html">
http://www.gn.apc.org/ibfan/fullcode.html</A>).

In short, I hope you feel heard and trust that we welcome commentary from
AMOMS and members about what goes on in Moms Online.  It would be against our
interests to stifle debate.  Indeed, if you and others hadn't spoken up, we
wouldn't have done further research on Nestle and WHO and taken the banner
down.  So please do speak up in the future; we're glad you care about what
goes on here!

Warmly,

****
P.S.  ****, feel free to share this letter with anyone concerned about the
Carnation banner on MO :-) >>