I am not a member of ILCA and did not attend the conference, but I have been
following the discussion on marketing with some interest. I remember reading
a study at one point that examined how heavily doctors and nurses were
influenced by such displays at conferences and other advertising. The
researchers found that these professionals said they were not influenced by
the marketing techniques, that they evaluated the products independently and
made their decisions based on evidence and rational thought. However, in
practice that didn't turn out to be true. Those who had been exposed to
displays by company A were much more likely to recommend company A's
products; those who attended the conference with company B products were
likely to recommend those. They didn't believe they were influenced, yet
clearly they were.

Certainly it is valuable to have information about products that may be
useful for certain mothers and babies in certain situations. I'm not
convinced that salespeople are the best source for that. Perhaps product
info could be something done in the Journal. My favourite horse magazine
invites manufacturers to send them free samples of new products; these
samples are sent out to horse people who test them on their own animals or
in their barns. They then write in reviews that outline their experience
with the product, both good and bad. If these companies would give out five
or six samples of their pumps or other items, to be tested by LC's in their
work with mothers, and then we could get detailed commentaries written up
for the Journal.

Of course, that would not solve the problem of finding funding for ILCA
conferences and other events, and I don't have a quick suggestion for that.

Teresa Pitman,
Guelph, Ontario

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