The other issue is one of privacy - I work in a maternity unit and we are
forbidden to give anybody's name to anyone on pain of death.  How are these
company's getting the names of patients.  What if the woman didn't want the
world to know she'd had a baby, for whatever reason?
*****Well, they have tons of ways to find out that you are pregnant, your due
date and so on.  Probably every day, I get, in my mail, some new "program for
new mothers" that is really a formula company wanting to get my info.  When I
was pregnant with my son, (+3 yrs ago) the doctor's office had these little
programs that they offered to "help" you get "free samples" of everything from
prenatal vitamins to clothes to coupons and so on, ultimately resulting in
"free" samples of formula.  They can get info from sources like magazine
subscriptions that a person has (Parent's, American Baby, et al) those all are
directly marketed to the family.  When my mother subscribed to Parent's she
started getting all kinds of offers, including formula samples and such.  Also,
stores get in on the act, many stores will have "Baby Club"s that parents sign
up for to get "special offers and discounts" these include formula and such.
It is very hard to avoid these ploys that companies use, but if you look hard
enough at the fine print, you will find that one or more pharmaceutical
companies or formula companies are involved in the program.  Sometimes, things
are just marketed out to a specific age group, say all females on the list that
are between ages 19 and 30 get picked, then they send out an ad to all of the
names on the list that meets that profile.  Insurance companies also get in on
the act, my insurer sent me a little card asking me if I wanted to get "free
samples and money saving coupons" all I had to do was fill out and send in the
little "postage paid" card to them.  The card asked for the typical stuff (that
is none of their business) such as my name, address, phone numbers, if I
already have children and their age(s), if I plan to bfeed, how long, what
brand of formula I plan to use to supplement or feed with... and so on.  Pretty
much anything that you buy can get you on a mailing list, and it is very hard
to get off of the lists, then mailing lists are bought and sold to other
companies to make it even worse.
Vickie (EDS II) and Gary  Doug 4/26/95 (UCL&AR, Kidney Anomaly) Meg due 5-6/98
V's Page:  http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/8113/gentryvickie.html
G's Page: http://www.geocities.com/heartland/estates/8113