Formula milk advertisement benefits are misleading, says WHO

The WHO aims to protect babies, parents and caregivers from aggressive marketing practices by the baby food industry.

Benefits outlined in the advertising of formula milk by digital marketers are misleading to the public, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The WHO said the advertisements promote unhealthy baby foods to parents and caregivers, which consequently reinforces negative myths about breastfeeding.

This made the WHO member states to call for regulation of the adverts on formula milk and baby foods during the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly.

A research research study by the WHO and United Nations Children Emergency fund (Unicef) found that over half of new parents had been exposed to promotions from formula milk companies.

In some countries, this was over 90 per cent. The new resolution covers the marketing of formula milks, teats and bottles, as well as foods for infants and young children.  

The resolve is a landmark agreement passed by the World Health Assembly in 1981, which aims to protect parents and caregivers from aggressive marketing practices by the baby food industry.

“Over recent years, new tactics for digital marketing have proliferated, for instance through influencer endorsements, virtual “support groups”, and personal targeting of pregnant women and new parents across their social media feeds. Many of these promotions are funded by baby food companies but their sponsorship is undisclosed. Advertisements are widely circulated across national borders creating new challenges for regulation,” the statement from WHO read.

To tighten the regulation, member states called for a robust regulatory measure to regulate the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and foods for infants and young children, including in digital environments, taking into full consideration the recommendations contained in the Guidance on regulatory measures aimed at restricting digital marketing of breast-milk substitutes.

They also called for the strengthening of monitoring systems and technologies to identify and report on marketing of breast-milk substitutes and foods for infants and young children.

This would ensure that such systems are sufficiently equipped to detect inappropriate marketing practices in digital environments as well as empowering of appropriate government bodies responsible for domestic implementation and monitoring of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.