The Breast Milk Formula

In my post on selling breast milk, a reader left a comment about Enfamil calling their formula as "The Breast Milk Formula". I took a screen shot:

You can see the claim "The Breast Milk Formula" on the tab and upper part of the screen shot. If this not unethical marketing, then I don't know what is. Motherwear's Tanya also blogged about this here.

In the Philippines, the applicable law is Executive Order No. 51 (2o October 1986), otherwise known as the "National Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, Breastmilk Supplements and Other Related Products" which regulates the advertising and promotion of breastmilk substitutes. Its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations issued by the Department of Health on 15 May 2006 was the subject of a huge controversy and court case. And contrary to the International Milk Code (which stipulates that there should be absolutely no promotion of breastmilk substitutes), the Philippine Supreme Court struck down provisions on the absolute prohibition of advertising, promotions, sponsorship or marketing materials for breastmilk substitutes and the adminstrative sanctions for violations of the rules and regulations. I've been meaning to make a digest (summary) of this case, which I will reserve for a future post.

I read a lot of parenting magazines and noticed that there have been several ads by formula companies promoting there products. Here are some samples:
These ads came from Smart Parenting - June 2008 issue and Baby Magazine's June 2009 issue and are both full page ads. There are many other ads in magazines, newspapers espousing the benefits of formula milk.

Aside from print ads, formula companies are very aggressive in releasing advertisements on TV. Here are a few ads running in Philippine television.

Pediasure Plus




Lactum Panatag





Gain




Enfakid - broken vase

The advertisements that I hate the most are those of Lactum and Enfa A+, which I believe are both manufactured by MeadJohnson. I am surprised that there is a Boycott Nestle organization but no boycott MeadJohnson action. In my experience, MeadJohnson is worse than Nestle in terms of unethical marketing.

When I gave birth, the hospital gave be an Enfamil hospital bag, which came with some free formula samples, a diaper changing pad, an ice cooler pack and a water bottle especially for mom. Subsequently, at Naima's 1st well-baby check-up, we received another cooler bag with formula milk again from Enfamil. Even during my consultation with my lactation consultant, I received Enfamilk Lipil from her after she informed me that I was not producing enough milk since Naima was only getting about 1 oz per session (she used a scale before and after feeding times).

As I mentioned, Lactum and the Enfa A+ commercials are the ones I hate the most. In the Lactum commercials, the celebrity moms promote Lactum to help your child gain complete nutrition, especially for picky eaters. While watching this commercial, I get the message that it's ok if your child is a very picky eater, e.g. eats fried chicken all the time, as long as she drinks Lactum. Lactum comes with the tagline "be a 100% nourished kid" and if you read closely enough, there is a disclaimer - "when coupled with a balanced diet". What a contradiction!

The Enfa A+ commercial I hate is the one where a woman (I believe its Daphne Osena) talks about how your child can gain +7 IQ points and shows a video of a nursery, some books and ends with a suggestion to the parents to ask your doctor how your child can gain +7IQ points. Throughout the commercial, no milk brand is being said or shown. However, at the bottom right corner of the screen, there is a symbol "A+" (which refers to MeadJohnson's Enfa products). So does it mean that I need to feed my daughter Enfa A+ products for her to get those +7 IQ points?!! A Filipina mom blogger explains how the study is inaccurately used by MeadJohnson to support its claim about the +7IQ points. I have been trying to get a Youtube copy of that voiceover A+ commercial but could not find it.

Enfa was also involved in another marketing issue, this time through a print ad in the Philippine Daily Inquirer as explained here. Really, I think it is high time for a MeadJohnson boycott aside from the Nestle one!