OK, here goes, the cynic in me is coming out.  How was this new strategy
decided?
Marsha, do you know whether focus groups have been used to explore the
effect of emphasizing exclusive BF for 6 months in a society without
universal maternity leave?  This sounds like it could backfire, and turn
into another stick to beat women with, in the words of Maureen Minchin.

Also, depending on how the importance of exclusive BF is presented, it could
play right into the hands of Brand X: 'In order to get the benefits of BF,
you should give your baby nothing else for the first 6 months...'  So
industry can follow up with a subtle or not-so-subtle message that 'if you
won't be able to BF exclusively for 6 months, you can just as well start
formula from day one.'  Do we have any guarantee that this new emphasis was
not approved by the industry before it was chosen?

It also reinforces social differences because whether we like it or not,
there are social differences in US women's choice fields for where they
spend the first six months of their children's lives. Given the current
state of the economy, women are unlikely to quit a job because the chances
of finding a new one after the 6 months of exclusive BF aren't that great.

It will be much easier for industry to paint artificial feeding as the
'convenient' alternative, allowing women 'freedom' while breastfeeding keeps
them 'tied to the baby' for six months.  I am putting these words in quotes
to show they are not my opinion, but speculation on how someone trying
desperately to hold on to their market share might present it.

To me it sounds as though the entire slant of the campaign has been changed,
in a direction that suits commercial interests much better than the original
one did.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, or shocked, but for the moment I
am at least disappointed.

Rachel Myr
feeling like a huge wet blanket in Kristiansand, Norway

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