Infants are targeted by infant formula marketing on social media, says WHO

Recent mothers who use social media to learn about breastfeeding are the most frequent targets of digital marketing in the infant formula industry, according to a study by the WHO (World Health Organization).

The report presented this Friday (29) shows that promotional posts for artificial milk for newborns have a reach three times greater on social networks than non-commercial posts about breastfeeding.

At least 8 out of 10 women had contact with the promotional content of these products for the first time on the internet. Advertisements include infant formula as well as baby bottles.

The study analyzed 4 million social media posts about breastfeeding between January and June 2021 in 17 countries. The posts reached around 2.4 billion people and generated 12 million comments and interactions.

Paid content from companies that produce infant formula adds up to 90 posts a day, which reaches 229 million users on social media, according to the WHO.

“Marketing on social networks is a kind of advertising with anabolic steroids, it has much more impact than the traditional way and, therefore, it is worrying when it comes to the promotion of products that replace breast milk”, says Laurence H. Grummer- Starwn, one of the authors of the research.

In this sense, the study shows that the social network users most affected by this strategy are in Bangladesh, China, Mexico, Morocco and Algeria.

“The new mother becomes a target of campaigns when searching the internet about any details of motherhood, such as crying and colic of the baby”, says researcher Nina Chad, who also signs the study.

The concern, according to the researcher, is that this dissemination strategy is often not identified as advertising and appears as informative content in mothers’ groups and maternity apps. “There is an urgent need for new regulations,” says Chad.

According to the WHO, digital marketing actions violate the advertising code for products that replace breast milk created in 1981.

The international body points out that the wide dissemination of infant formula reflects on the mother’s confidence in feeding her child with breast milk. “In Indonesia, formulas are considered mandatory products for babies”, says Nia Umar, president of the association that represents lactating women in the country.

She says that the close relationship between food companies and governments that do not regulate the sale of these products is traditional in Indonesia. “This approach has intensified during the pandemic,” she says.

For about a year, the country has had a channel for reporting situations that affect breastfeeding, including the indiscriminate dissemination of artificial milk for newborns. “The industry targets mothers very powerfully in my country,” she says.

Researcher Cristiano Boccolini, from the NGO Observa Infância, who served as a consultant on the subject at the WHO, recalls the case of a teenager who had her pregnancy discovered by the app of a large retail chain in the United States even before her father.

Based on her research on the internet, the store started to send out coupons for diapers and other baby items. “We generate information about ourselves in a variety of ways, like when we go to the supermarket or the time we spend in a certain store,” says Boccolini.