Thread by @WHO

"We have been targeted with marketing from formula milk companies."

Over half of parents & pregnant women exposed to formula milk marketing, violating international standards and harming child health
-🆕 WHO, @UNICEF survey

➡️ bit.ly/3LVbIbi

#EndExploitativeMarketing

Formula milk industry marketing techniques incl.:
💰💻 unregulated & invasive online targeting
💰 📞 sponsored advice networks & helplines
💰 🎁 promotions & free gifts
💰 🩺 practices to influence training & recommendations from health workers

#EndExploitativeMarketing

STARTING SOON: How the marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding: WHO-@UNICEF report

🗓️ Wednesday, 23 February 2022
🕙 10h00 CET

Second session:
🕔 17h00 CET

▶️ bit.ly/3HaRvL0

#EndExploitativeMarketing

Claims made by the formula milk industry about their products are often misleading, scientifically unsubstantiated & violate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes bit.ly/3LVbIbi

#EndExploitativeMarketing

The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes - also known as the Code - is a landmark public health agreement passed by the World Health Assembly in 1981 to protect families from aggressive marketing practices by the baby food industry

#EndExploitativeMarketing

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1496425158147559426

STARTING SOON - Second session: How the marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding: WHO-@UNICEF report

🗓️ Wednesday, 23 February 2022
🕔 17h00 CET

▶️ bit.ly/3HaRvL0

#EndExploitativeMarketing

Globally, only 44% of babies less than 6 months old are exclusively breastfed.
Global #breastfeeding rates have increased very little in the past two decades, while sales of formula milk have more than doubled in roughly the same time.

#EndExploitativeMarketing

Exposure to formula milk marketing - which increases parents’ & mothers’ likelihood of choosing formula feeding - reaches:
🇬🇧 84% of all women surveyed in the #UnitedKingdom
🇻🇳 92% of women surveyed in #VietNam
🇨🇳 97% of women surveyed in #China

#EndExploitativeMarketing

Most pregnant women surveyed expressed a strong desire to breastfeed exclusively.
However, a sustained flow of misleading marketing messages reinforces myths about #breastfeeding & breast-milk, undermining women’s confidence in their ability to breastfeed successfully.

#Breastfeeding offers a powerful line of defense against all forms of child malnutrition.
It also acts as babies’ first vaccine, protecting them against many common childhood illnesses, while reducing women’s future risk of diabetes, obesity and some forms of cancer.

More than 1 in 3 women surveyed said a health worker had recommended a specific brand of formula milk to them.
Health workers in all countries had been approached by the industry to influence their recommendations to new mothers bit.ly/3LVbIbi

#EndExploitativeMarketing

🎁 Promotional gifts
🍼 Free samples
💵 Funding for research
🤝Paid meetings, events, conferences
🪙 Commissions from sales

are examples of how the formula milk industry are influencing health care workers on their recommendations to new mothers.
 
#EndExploitativeMarketing

Announcing your pregnancy? 🤰🏻

Formula milk companies buy your data & use your internet search history to learn more about you. By the time you find out you are pregnant, you’re already a target for their marketing campaigns bit.ly/3LVbIbi

#EndExploitativeMarketing

WHO, @UNICEF, partners are calling for govts, policy makers to
•#EndExploitativeMarketing of formula milk & fully implement the Code
•Create supportive environments for 🤱🏻, incl. adequate paid parental leave
•Prevent commercial influence from the industry in healthcare setting