A generic letter, which can be personalized as one wishes, follows Amy's
letter. May I add my voice to strongly urge everyone who supports
breastfeeding to write. As Amy says, "A tidal wave is made of drops of
water." :-)
Karen Z
Subject: [USBC] Ad Campaign
Hi All,
Below please find a sample letter that can be used to communicate your
concerns regarding the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign.
In addition to Secretary Tommy G. Thompson you may want to contact
members
of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as well as
individual senators and house members from your state.
You can secure the names and addresses of individual members of congress
by
visiting the following website:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
On a positive note, I had the opportunity to speak with the HHS
Assistant
Secretary for Public Affairs, Kevin Keane. I assured him that his office
had
the full support of the USBC and he assured me that the resolution of the
issues surrounding the campaign would have his full attention next week.
He
is currently preoccupied with Medicare legislation. The goal of DHHS is
to
launch a breastfeeding campaign that can stand up to any criticism. I
will
keep you posted as more information becomes available.
Amy
Amy Spangler, RN, MN, IBCLC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sample Letter:
November , 2003
Dear ,
I am writing to express my deep concern regarding recent actions that I
understand have been taken by representatives of the infant formula
industry regarding the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign
developed by The Advertising Council in cooperation with the Department
of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. It is also my
understanding that as the result of these actions both the content of the
campaign as well as the launch date are in jeopardy.
This campaign is an essential element of the strategy of the United
States to achieve the Healthy People 2010 breastfeeding goals of at least
75% of all newborns being breastfed, 50% still breastfeeding at 6 months
of age and 25% continuing to a year or beyond. When these goals are
achieved, thousands of episodes of illness in infants and young children
will not occur, the risk of childhood obesity will be lowered, and
between 3.5 and 4 billion dollars will be saved annually.
The Advertising Council has an outstanding record of successful campaigns
to achieve behavior change. The content of the National Breastfeeding
Awareness Campaign strategy has been carefully designed by the Council in
response to discussions with thirty-six focus groups conducted in four
regions of the country. The focus groups, formed to ensure diversity of
ethnicity, gender, age, marital and socioeconomic status indicated that
it was essential that the health consequences of not breastfeeding be
clearly communicated in the campaign. The messages have been designed to
respond to this recommendation. Given the success of prior Advertising
Council campaigns there is no justification for altering the campaign
strategy.
I urge you to support the scheduled launch of the campaign and to retain
the content as developed. Helping all Americans live longer, better, and
healthier lives, will be significantly enhanced by fully supporting the
National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign.
Sincerely,
________________________________________________________________
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