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Bears
and bottles, a running theme for Nutricia, in Italy, in
Russia, in...
Nestlé
Blue Bear at Hong Kong Baby Fun Show.
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Nestlé's
pervasive new Blue Bear character now appears all
over the world, on all its cereal labels and other
promotional material, in different postures and
cultural contexts. In Hong Kong and Singapore, Blue
Bear eats porridge with chopsticks! In Mexico, Blue
Bear is tagged onto street signs. In Singapore,
Blue Bear approaches mothers even before their baby
is born, inviting mothers-to-be to join Nestlé's
Baby World Club, despite that country's prohibition
of baby clubs.
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These characters
then become a running theme through much of the company's
promotional material thus boosting brand recognition and
consumer loyalty.
Feeding
bottle and teat labels, too, should not contain text or
pictures that discourage breastfeeding. But most companies
still do have labels with cuddly animals, baby faces and
mothers lovingly bottle feeding their babies.
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Rosco,
the brown teddy bear appears not only on labels
of Abbott-Ross infant formula and follow-up milks
but also is given as gifts to doctors, mothers,
and appears in advertisements and on posters. The
character has become so widely recognised that company
or brand names no longer need to be mentioned.
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Labels
for the same brands vary from country to country.
In the United States, where the Code is largely
ignored, labels by the four main companies, which
market there - Abbott-Ross, Mead Johnson, Nestlé
and Wyeth - are notoriously promotional. These same
companies behave better elsewhere where labelling
requirements inspired by the Code, are stricter.
One example is Gerber which has removed its baby
face logo from labels in Brazil.
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Danone's
fuzzy feelings.
Friesland
bear boosts brand recognition.
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Mead
Johnson's use of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit character
in its Enfamil infant formula labelling evokes nostalgia
amongst many parents. In the USA, Canada and Puerto
Rico, where there are no restrictions on promotion,
the baby bunny is depicted with a feeding bottle,
while in Mexico and Colombia, which have some regulations,
the bottle is omitted.
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TOO
EARLY
The
Code applies to all products "marketed or represented
. . . as replacements of breastmilk." Subsequent
Resolutions have recommended that complementary
feeding begins at six months of age. This
means cereals, jarred foods, juices, teas and other
products should not be promoted for use before six
months.
Nestlé,
Gerber, Heinz, Milupa, Danone, Dumex, Friesland
and Hipp, all market complementary food products
for use below six months of age. Many of
these labels show baby pictures and do not provide
complete and accurate information about the product
and its appropriate use.
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