29 April 2025 – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United International locations Youth’s Fund (UNICEF) are nowadays launching a “Infants Before Bottom Lines” manifesto to warn parents in South Africa against incorrect and unethical baby milk advertising. The manifesto changed into once posted online nowadays to name out “predatory and pervasive practices” and has been backed and shared by prominent parenting influencers spherical the country.
WHO and UNICEF are jointly calling the distinction of parents and caregivers to the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and its connected information sources. The code presents guidelines on stricter regulation of marketing of breastmilk substitutes, to curb tainted results on infants’ short- and long-term health.
WHO’s Country Representative in South Africa, Shenaaz El-Halabi, says: “Faulty, incomplete, misleading health and nutrition claims by formula corporations also can merely clean discontinue now. The WHO calls on formula milk corporations to discontinue presenting incomplete scientific proof and inferring unsupported health outcomes.”
WHO and UNICEF are namely calling on native regulators to update Regulations Relating to Foodstuffs for Infants and Young Youth (aka R991) to include other advertising ways and digital marketing practices which accept as true with change into prevalent in the past few years since the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes of 1981 and native Law R991 of 2012 were drafted. Some in fashion social media platforms, whose algorithms can purpose sing customers with sing messages at sing times, were clean in their infancy or didn’t but exist in 2012. Of explicit dispute is that parents are continuously focused with information that blurs the lines between nutritional info and promotional pseudo-science and emotional manipulation when they are at their most susceptible.
The pseudo-scientific health claims made by formula corporations discourage moms from breastfeeding, which also can merely clean continuously be a first desire as breastmilk is in truth the most full and healthiest milk for infants. In addition, frequent proof exists that women folk accept as true with internalised doubts in regards to the standard and quantity of their breastmilk, mirroring the subject matters and messaging of formula milk marketing campaigns.
In line with their multi-country inspect on the impacts of marketing breastmilk substitutes, WHO and UNICEF warn that “inappropriate promotion of breastmilk substitutes negatively impacts breastfeeding practices, and that advertisers are promoting a incorrect desire between formula feeding and breastfeeding, without offering informed solution to parents in regards to the sincere variations between breastmilk and loads of brands of formula”.
UNICEF South Africa Representative, Christine Muhigana, notes that: “Authorities and civil society partners are to be commended for their efforts to handle this concerning utter of affairs. It is clear that formula milk corporations continue to actively purpose health consultants to convince them to prescribe formula. This Manifesto is half of a broader effort to handle these unfair practices in recount that moms and caregivers are fully responsive to unethical marketing practices.”
Contaminated promotion, also identified as “brand extension” which is a marketing be conscious whereby one product is historical to promote another product by using an identical branding, packaging and labelling (including however no longer restricted to an identical colours, originate, font kinds, mascots and trademarks) has change into a overall be conscious by the bay formula corporations.
“All families accept as true with to be supported with proof-based fully fully information in recount that they can invent essentially the most relevant and informed determination for feeding their infants. These choices, on the different hand, also can merely clean never be exploited for corporate income. We’re finding again and again, all spherical the enviornment, that unethical corporate influence is imposed on caregivers thru incorrect advertising. Companies use digital marketing algorithms that exploit parents when they are most susceptible. They capitalize on parents’ doubts and questions. For instance, we peek advertisers directing fraudulent science at caregivers in the center of the night, when they or their infants are struggling, to falsely convince them that bottle-fed infants sleep better than breastfed infants. Here is imperfect and needs to discontinue,” says Dr Laurence Grummer-Strawn, who leads WHO‘s work on infant and younger child feeding.
WHO and UNICEF accept as true with uncovered systematic and unethical marketing recommendations by the US $55 billion infant formula industry, finding it makes use of the “infant formula industry makes use of pervasive, personalized and extremely effective recommendations to accommodate parents when they are at their most susceptible in the early days of their current infants existence, and manipulate scientific claims to promote their products while undermining parents’ self assurance”.
Aqeelah Harron, an online disclose creator who owns the in fashion Vogue Breed social media platform, is supporting the marketing campaign. “I’m a mom to a toddler and my child’s health matters to me more than anything. I think it’s wrong that powerful formula companies with big platforms are preying on parents to manipulate us into falling for fake science. Babies and new parents are vulnerable and should never be exploited. We need to prioritise comprehensive feeding education for all caregivers, free from the influence of profit-driven marketing.” Several other online influencers are also backing the marketing campaign.
WHO and UNICEF invite the public to join them in calling for an finish to the aggressive marketing of formula milk, and to share their name to circulation: “Settle infants sooner than bottom lines.”
Apply the marketing campaign on social media: #BabiesBeforeBottomlines #EndExploitativeMarketing
About WHO
Devoted to the smartly-being of all folks and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions international efforts to give all people, in all places an equal likelihood at a rep and healthy existence. We’re the UN agency for health that connects countries, partners and folks on the entrance lines in 150+ places – leading the enviornment’s response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the muse causes of health points and expanding rep admission to to medicines and health care. Our mission is to promote health, maintain the enviornment rep and help the susceptible. www.who.int
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in a few of the enviornment’s hardest places, to reach the enviornment’s most deprived younger folks. Genuine thru better than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, in all places, to gain a more in-depth world for all people.
