Commercial milk formula advertising can frame normal behaviour as pathological, says Dr Tony Waterston
The heading of Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s article (Formula milk advert restrictions are patronising – let parents decide what’s best, 25 August) will be music to the ears of the formula milk companies that, according to the Lancet, are spending between $2.6bn and $3.5bn a year globally on marketing, not including lobbying and social media. The Lancet showed that commercial milk formula marketing “frames normal maturing behaviours as ‘something is wrong’ – pathological – or mothers are inadequate” – for example, “if your infant has a rash or cries or possets or is unsettled – maybe they have an allergy” – and offers products as solutions.
With one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe, the UK urgently needs to step up its control of marketing as well as its support of breastfeeding mothers – which is also inadequate. Cosslett is correct in saying that feeding is a woman’s choice, but to call restrictions on unethical marketing “patronising” is a gift to capitalism and rapacious profiteers. Parents strongly need accurate information and support, and the formula companies are in no way the right source of either.
Dr Tony Waterston
Retired consultant paediatrician and World Health Organization consultant
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