Revealed: The Shocking Extent of Exploitative Baby Formula Milk Marketing
This report shows very clearly that formula milk marketing remains unacceptably pervasive, misleading and aggressive,” says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
The new WHO report titled Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breast-milk substitutes has outlined the digital marketing techniques designed to influence the decisions new families make on how to feed their babies.
Business buys, collects personal information
“Through tools like apps, virtual support groups or ‘baby-clubs’, paid social media influencers, promotions and competitions and advice forums or services, formula milk companies can buy or collect personal information and send personalised promotions to new pregnant women and mothers.”
The report summarises findings of new research that sampled and analysed 4 million social media posts about infant feeding published between January and June 2021 using a commercial social listening platform.
These posts reached 2.47 billion people and generated more than 12 million likes, shares or comments.
Three times as much
Formula milk companies post content on their social media accounts around 90 times per day, reaching 229 million users; representing three times as many people as are reached by informational posts about breastfeeding from non-commercial accounts.
This pervasive marketing is increasing purchases of breast-milk substitutes and therefore dissuading mothers from breastfeeding exclusively as recomm...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Baher Kamal Tags: Development & Aid Global Headlines Health Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news
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