Half Pint Pixie

Did you know?

Your newborn’s tummy is only the size of an eggcup

So says the Cow & Gate advertisement currently running on a popular Irish parenting forum. It goes on to say…

For more advice, free money-off coupons… and the chance to chat with new mums or mums-to-be… join here…

It then shows their logo, with the wording:

Feeding for life – Start Healthy

By not mentioning formula and dressing the ad up as a fun piece of trivia, Cow and Gate are circumventing the ban on infant formula advertising.

However, the intention is crystal clear here, it’s clearly directed at mothers of newborns and is using the offer of free coupons to get them to visit their website, where information on formula for newborns is available.

In a country where advertising infant formula is banned, surely an ad by an infant formula manufacturer targeting the mothers of newborn babies constitutes a violation of the ban?

You can lodge a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority letting them know that Cow & Gate are once again dodging around the ban with their dubious advertising tactics. Update: In Ireland, the Food Safety Authority are responsible for enforcing infant formula marketing. You can read their infant formula guidelines pdf here.

I have come across a lot of debate recently on whether the ban on advertising formula should be lifted, that we should trust the companies involved to inform parents of their choices.

Mike Brady of Baby Milk Action addresses this issue here, where, using the information currently available from the formula manufacturers, he comes to the following conclusion:

On the basis of the information so far, we have learned that Milupa claims to be the closest to breastmilk, so does Cow & Gate and so does Farley’s.

So which is the best infant formula? If you try to decide on the basis of what companies tell you, then you get nowhere. They are commercial organisations and aim to convince that their formula is the best.

In a multi-million euro industry, the players involved cannot be trusted to give parents the information needed to make an informed choice.

A better option would be an independent watchdog run by the healthboard which could issue information to healthworkers and parents.

After all, much like washing powder, it seems every week we see a new advertisement for a new “best” formula, now realistically they can’t all be the best, can they?

disclaimer: this is not an attack on parents who bottle-feed, this is about the companies involved and their often-illegal claims & advertising methods!