The WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) have launched a “Babies Before Bottom Lines” campaign aimed at the “predatory and pervasive” digital marketing practices of some baby formula companies and what they say is false and unethical baby formula advertising in South Africa.
The campaign is directed against companies they accuse of using unregulated digital marketing spaces and targeted messages to manipulate vulnerable parents, reports Daily Maverick.
“It’s about just how insidious this (marketing) is… that you don’t even recognise that it’s an ad,” said Dr Laurence Grummer-Strawn, who leads the WHO’s work on infant and young child feeding.
“They might be directly on an industry site. They might be filtered through an influencer, filtered through the discussion groups out there for moms … And so those messages about how you need to supplement your baby come up right away. The mother thinks she’s getting good advice from a bunch of other mothers, when in fact, it’s being driven by commercial interests.”
In some cases, formula milk companies present incomplete scientific evidence or infer unsupported health outcomes for their products, alleges Shenaaz El-Halabi, the WHO’s country representative in South Africa.
These “pseudo-scientific health claims” can discourage mothers from breastfeeding, which is problematic, say the WHO and Unicef, as breast milk remains the “most complete and healthiest” milk for babies.
“In addition, widespread evidence exists that women have internalised doubts about the quality and quantity of their milk, mirroring the themes and messaging of formula marketing campaigns,” they add.
Encouraging parent education
As part of the campaign, the two organisations are working with “parenting influencers” to draw attention to the risks around baby formula marketing, to push South African caregivers and civil society groups to advocate for stricter advertising regulations.
“We’re hoping that civil society and the general population of mothers would be reaching out to their parliamentarians and government representatives, particularly in the Ministry of Health, ministries of industry, asking them to update the legislation,” Grummer-Strawn told Daily Maverick.
“South Africa has had pretty decent legislation on the marketing of breast milk substitutes, but it largely ignores this whole new context of digital (spaces) and so things fall between the cracks … In principle, the things the companies are doing ought to be against the law already, but when it comes to actually enforcing that, because it’s not recognised as an ad, because no one knows how to pick it up in monitoring systems, it goes into a legal complication.”
South Africa’s regulations relating to foodstuffs for infants and young children set out the rules on the marketing of infant formula, including labelling requirements, restrictions on product promotion and guidelines for health personnel.
The regulations prohibit promotional practices for infant formula through “direct or indirect contact between company personnel and … the public”, including via the internet, TV and radio, telephone or internet helplines, and mother and baby clubs.
Daily Maverick asked the National Department of Health about the WHO/Unicef campaign and the concerns about the regulation of formula marketing practices in the digital space, but had not received a response at the time of publishing.
Global fight
Grummer-Strawn noted that the problems with digital marketing for baby formula were not unique to South Africa, adding that the WHO and Unicef had plans to expand the “Babies Before Bottom Lines” campaign to other countries.
“We estimate about 30 countries have at least mentioned something about digital environments within their laws … but even those, often, don’t really get into what tactics are being used … And so there’s a real concern that there aren’t many great examples of capturing all the regulations that are needed … in the digital space.”
It’s not the first time the WHO and Unicef have drawn attention to unethical practices in the baby formula industry. In 2022, they released a multi-country study on the impact of marketing of breast milk substitutes on infant feeding decisions and practices. The report covered eight countries, including South Africa.
It found that just more than half (51%) of the mothers and pregnant women surveyed were targeted by formula-milk marketing, despite the existence of the WHO’s International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, which aims to protect parents from aggressive marketing practices used by the baby-food industry.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Most baby formula health claims not science-backed – global analysis
Reports by experts slam ‘underhand, exploitative’ milk formula marketing
Health professionals targeted by formula milk companies to push products
Breastfeeding rates in SA increased but still short of global targets