Maybe we're looking for the "right" approach to breastfeeding ads and there *is* no single right approach because everyone is spurred by something different - sometimes wildly different.  Maybe we just plain need all of:

Women looking at the camera while they breastfeed
Women looking like Madonnas while they breastfeed
Women breastfeeding older babies, breastfeeding at work, breastfeeding and laughing
Bold, scary statistics
Guilt-inducing ads and articles
Warm fuzzies
Ads and articles targeting pregnant women - including where to get more info and help
Ads and articles targeting the general public
Nurse-ins
Code publicity
Banning the Bags
World Breastfeeding Week
Mechanical bull ads
Inhaler ads
Whimsical, silly ads
Ads that focus on breastfeeding
Ads that focus on formula
Warnings on formula cans
Legislation
"Outing" of any facility that treats the stuff like "white water"
Lawsuits
You name it.

Maybe the *only* thing we *don't* need is fear of causing guilt! 

I would dearly love to know when that started.  With health care people who were using formula themselves and didn't want to make *themselves* feel guilty?  My best guess is that it was started by formula companies and I'm guessing it has been their single best marketing gambit.  Ross Laboratories objected to the Ad Council campaign, saying it would "incite fear and guilt".  Yet that same don't-make -the-mother-feel-guilty company has an ad for some un-named product that begins "If you knew what RSV could do to your precious baby, it would take your breath away.  Few sights are more disturbing than a suffering baby.  An infant with severe RSV is especially tragic because, in most cases, the suffering could be prevented."  It ends, "If your baby was born early, call your pediatrician now - before it's too late."  Inciting fear and guilt is a bad thing??  I think this whole no-guilt angle probably started with the formula companies themselves and was abetted by a medical profession looking for an easy out.  But oh, I'd dearly love help in tracing the no-guilt theme back to its beginnings.  How would we do it?  

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com 

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