When my son was born, I was astonished by the amount of free formula I
got.  A case of little cans of concentrate, several packets of powder
from various companies, not to mention the ubiquitous full-sized tin
from the hospital. Being a read-aholic somewhat predisposed to embracing
things wholeheartedly :), I was already indignant at this practice.
Plus, my new pediatrician had given me a "new patients" pamphlet with a
very strong statement condemning free formula samples (How many new moms
pick a pediatrician because he is less than a mile away, and covered by
the health plan, and recommended by her MIL, only to discover that he is
the father of 8 breastfed children?! Lucky me!). I sent the case back
via return mail with a request to never contact me again. We also got a
nifty little survey in the mail, not Ross, but a marketing type thing
showing different formula packages (no brand names shown), the cost, and
a little blurb with a marketing statement.  I was asked to comment on
whether or not each one would make me inclined to buy these products.
Also included was a picture of a gallon of milk, interestingly.  We
filled this out rather unkindly as I recall. It amused us to imagine
some ABM marketing drone going through this and reading "Close, but not
quite!" "Breast milk is best for babies." and "Great if your baby is a
calf!" on every page.

Anyway, my daughter was born 3 months ago.  I have yet to receive any
type of formula or promotional materials. Different mailing list, I
imagine...

I am also on a different insurance this time, and gave birth at a
different hospital (Where, I am sad to say, I still was offered a
"breastfeeding support kit" from one large company. It was a little
cooler bag emblazoned with their trademark containing some not *too* bad
breastfeeding info, some ice packs (also emblazoned with the name and
logo), some storage bottles--ditto(Somewhere out there are little
bottles of mother's milk that say S*****c :( ), and a little bitty can
of "it".).

I think that some insurance companies (and hospitals???) sell their
lists
of pregnant or new moms to marketing companies. Ick. I suppose that's
where all this comes from (Although I have had paranoid fantasies of the
little bags containing "homing devices" designed to track down a new mom
whenever she leaves the hospital with a "Free Gift for You".).