While the tactics of the tobacco industry and the tactics of the breastmilk
substitute industry resemble one another in connivingness, and both products
can damage your health, it's worth remembering that people do not start
using tobacco because they believe it is a replacement for a naturally
secreted substance that is necessary for life.  The niche in your life that
would be filled by your tobacco addiction, is not at all the same niche that
would be filled by a breastmilk substitute.  A person who is forced to go
without tobacco smoke may suffer some transient discomfort if they are
addicted.  A baby whose food source is taken away will not get over its
addiction to satiety, it will starve.
Children who are fed breastmilk substitutes are not comparable to consumers
who are addicted to nicotine.  Neither are their parents.
It's been a very long time since tobacco was advertised for its health
promoting qualities.  I don't know that it was ever marketed as a life
saving alternative to fresh air for people unable to produce fresh air
themselves.  
I still think it is fine to use the parallels between marketing of tobacco
and marketing of breastmilk substitutes to show policy makers how marketing
adversely impacts health.  Tobacco was marketed toward the fear of being
left out, as a way to gain glamour, sophistication, machismo or whatever
quality the ad linked to the use of their particular cigarette brand,
without regard to the serious health hazards involved.  Breastmilk
substitutes are marketed in the US by playing on some of the same fears, of
being left out, especially when the marketing refers to ingredients that
supposedly give users of their brand a competitive advantage in brain
development.  But it's by proxy, since the actual consumer is not the one
making the decision to purchase the product.  I find it most reprehensible
for a society to allow this kind of marketing to take place at all; once the
marketing is permitted, I personally find it more difficult to condemn those
who fall for it and I'd hate for a mother to think I equated use of
breastmilk substitute with tobacco use.

For getting the point across to parents about breastfeeding, I favor an
approach like the Canadian campaign for alcohol-free pregnancy Janice
brought to our attention last week.  Since I am hardly representative of any
population except aging feminist US ex-pats living in Norway, I hope no
public health info campaigns are based on my preferences.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway, where it poured all day today

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