Medela issues marketing revisions regarding the Code

Posted on August 21, 2023 by BanTheBags

On August 11, Medela sent out an announcement to its customers that it was taking steps towards meeting their obligations under the WHO/UNICEF International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. Medela is working to revise its web pages and marketing materials in all countries where it does business and will not idealize bottle feeding. However, more needs to be done relative to its Calma bottle, particularly its packaging.

For many years, its Calma product line has been of particular concern. The packaging on its Calma products as seen on Amazon still features an infant and says, “Switching from bottle to breast has never been easier.” It is described as a “Breastfeeding Friendly Set.”

Many breastfeeding organizations wish to associate only with Code-compliant companies, and as a result, have not associated with Medela. Medela’s new announcement, while encouraging, does not alter its status regarding the Code.

**The 2023 Lancet series on breastfeeding exposes exploitive marketing of infant formula**

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Posted on February 12, 2023 by BanTheBags

The 2023 Lancet Series on Breastfeeding explores how the value of breastfeeding is wasted by governments and public health, and how the vulnerabilities of women and children are exploited by the commercial milk formula (CMF) industry.

The 3-part series explores the strategies used to target vulnerable parents, reveals formula puffery claims made with little or no supporting evidence, exposes sophisticated digital marketing platforms, and discusses industry lobbying efforts to influence policy and weaken the Code. Breastfeeding is the major competitor of infant formula. Analysis carried out in this Lancet series showed that for each additional kilogram of standard formula sold per child each year, breastfeeding was 1.9 percentage points lower. Recommendations are put forth to address the $55 billion industry that the formula marketing playbook so effectively supports.

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40th Anniversary of the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, “The Code

Posted on August 5, 2021 by BanTheBags

In response to the predatory marketing practices of the infant formula industry, the World Health Organization (WHO) embraced the Code in 1981 as a means to protect breastfeeding mothers and infants from commercial pressures to avoid or abandon breastfeeding.

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