Parents and pregnant women around the world are exposed to aggressive marketing of infant formula, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report details the exploitative marketing practices used by the dairy industry formula for babies and shows that parents, especially mothers, are being slyly and consistently targeted online.
The new WHO report, entitled "The Extent and Impact of Digital Marketing Strategies for Promoting Breastfeeding Substitutes," describes the digital marketing techniques developed to influence young families' decisions about how to feed their babies. Theirs.
Through tools such as apps, virtual groups or "baby clubs", paid social media influencers, contests and forums or counseling services, formula milk companies can buy or collect personal information and send you customized packages. women and young pregnant mothers.
Baby formula companies post content to their social media accounts about 90 times a day, reaching 229 million users; representing three times as many people as those accessed by breastfeeding information posts on non-commercial accounts.
"The promotion of commercial milk formulas should have been completed decades ago," said Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety. "The fact that formula dairy companies are now using even more powerful and insidious marketing techniques to increase their sales is unforgivable and must be stopped."
The WHO notes that the proliferation of global digital milk marketing formulas violates the International Breast Milk Substitute Marketing Code, which was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. The Code is a landmark public health agreement designed to protect the public and mothers from aggressive marketing practices by the baby formula industry that negatively affect breastfeeding.
According to the WHO, breastfeeding is the best way to provide babies with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development and can prevent 13% of child deaths. Breastfeeding also acts as the first vaccine for babies, protecting babies from many common childhood diseases.
