Nestlé's
verybestbaby.com site
The
only one . . .
In January 2001, when
the WHO Executive Board specifically warned about the use of Internet
advertising for products under the scope of the International Code,
the USA government was the only one to object and even wanted all
references to "electronic" media deleted.
However, the World
Health Assembly adopted Resolution WHA
54.2 addressing such promotion in May 2001 by consensus. |
Adiri 'Breastbottle'
nurser.
|
LINKS
TO DOCTORS AND NURSES
Another promotional method
is not only to use the company's own website but also to advertise
products or services on other websites aimed at mothers or mothers-to-be.
Baby food companies provide a large proportion of advertising on
such sites. For example, freegifts4kids.com is sponsored
by Gerber, Nestlé Carnation and Mead Johnson's Enfamil and
contains links to their websites. Such sites contain (sometimes
inaccurate or misleading) infant feeding recommendations, surveys
and offers of products and club memberships. Kidsgrowth.com,
as another example, is sponsored by Similac (an Abbott-Ross formula)
and recommends complementary feeding well before six months of age.
Mothers in the USA and Canada receive samples, discount coupons,
newsletters and gifts through such sites. Mead Johnson gets more
than it pays for with Enfamil's sponsorship of the sites WebMD
and WebRN as the contents of supposedly professional articles
on those sites are shockingly anti-breastfeeding. The extent of
this mutually beneficial relationship is evident in that WebMD
is advertised on the top of Enfamil tins.
Abbott Laboratories received
a boost in the credibility of its products when company researchers
were quoted in an online article by the US FDA titled "Infant
Formula: Second Best But Good Enough" The article serves industry's
interests in saying, "Infant formula is increasingly close
to breastmilk".
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