Saturday, September 01, 2007

scratch your head

so im not going to post this entire article because it is pretty lengthy but i thought i'd link this article because i found it noteworthy --

Industry pressure waters down breast-feed ads:
Under pressure from infant formula lobby, appointees dilute campaign



here are the ads that the article mentions



and



i was happy to see the ads on tv honestly. im so sick to death of seeing formula ads at every turn of my head. every parenting magazine, tv show aimed at mothers, information from a pediatrician or ob/gyn is just one long parade of propaganda from the formula industry. how can we expect our society to nurse their babies if they are being indoctrinated with ideas of what is counter to nature? i do not blame anyone for not nursing, i think that is what is expected of women. breasts are dirty sexual objects not tools to feed babies. and not to put it too out there and be obscene but um can't they be multi functional? personally i think those ads go way over the line and it gives nursing mamas a bad name. artificial milk being the same as riding a mechanical bull or log rolling during pregnancy?! come on! why must there be such an over exaggeration of the facts to get the point that breastmilk is the optimal food for babies? anything that is the extreme view on a subject is going to be rejected and used as ammunition for the opposing "camp". here's the thing, america is about money. i know i know, breaking news huh? there is no money to be made when mamas nurse their babies, or at least no where near the bank roll that artificial milk and all the necessary do-dads brings in. nursing has a neutral impact on the environment, which is one of the big motivators for me since im a crazy-go-nuts treehugger.

i wish they would redo the ads. i dont wish anyone to be scared into nursing, just as conversely i dont want anyone to be duped into using artificial milk because of all of the propaganda. the funny thing about propaganda is that usually people don't realize they are being influenced, that's the point! it's sort of like how david and i watch all of our old popeye cartoons with our jaws hanging slack. they did not just say "KILL THE JAPS" right? hindsight is funny usually sad. i think we are finally starting to see what our society is buying into, what with new jersey having a csection rate upwards of 37% (!!) and other things of that nature that make the rest of the world scratch it's head at us.

2 comments:

Rachel said...

i've never seen those ad's before, but i don't really like them. :p i agree that women are CONSTANTLY being bashed over the head with formula ads on tv, magazines, bags of formula from doctors, in the mail, etc. so it's only fair that someone advertise nursing too! but it'd probably work best if the ad's were a bit different. :p

Anonymous said...

yeah--I though the ads were a LITTLE extreme. I mean, I'm part of the militant breastfeeding cult, but I'm not about to compare formula to that! (plus, As a working mom, i sometimes have to use the stuff when my stored milk runs out.) but I really wish they would get the word out. Esp so the GRANDMAS know whats up. they havent read a baby article since their own kids were babies and are still in the mindset that formula supplementation is really good for them.