here is the final copy of the letter I wrote regarding the shoe commercial with dad giving baby a bottle.


Dear Advertiser,

 Surely you can find something else for dad to do for his baby,  other than feeding a bottle, while mom demonstrates your shoes.  In a world that is making a monumental  effort to promote breastfeeding, or at least the giving of breastmilk -- your advertisement is an advertisement also, however inadvertent, for formula.

It is against code of the World Health Organization to advertise formula to the general public.
In the US, there used to be an informal understanding between formula companies and the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Nestles, I understand, was the first to violate this understanding,  and since then it has become standard for formula manufacturers to advertise directly to consumers, instead of solely to health care providers.

It is laudable that you show a dad doing something nurturing for his infant.  In a world where too many dads are minimally involved in their babies' early years, this is an important visual
advertisement.  

Unfortunately, it is also a powerful visual message that formula is okay in the daily routine.  It is not!  According to  WHO, formula is the fourth best substance you can feed your baby, and should be used only of the first three are unavailable.   The first three, incidentally, are mom's milk directly from mom, mom's milk in a bottle, or milk from another mother (or  a Human Milk Bank).

Of course, if watchers were somehow aware that the milk in the bottle was mother's milk, I would be somewhat mollified.  Now there's a challenge for you.

Sincerely,

Chanita R. Stillerman, San Francisco
formerly a breastfeeding mother, now a breastfeeding educator and activist.