--Henri Nestlé, 1867
According to Nestlé, Henri Nestlé wrote a book, Memorial of the Nutrition of Infants, in 1867 in which he stated that, "Breastfeeding is best." Of course, don't tell this to the Fed Is Best Foundation or the Fearless Formula Feeders of the internet who blame breastfeeding advocates for this slogan. I guess I understand now why some breastfeeding advocates don't like the slogan either. But breastfeeding advocates never say that it is because Henri Nestlé coined the phrase and the company plus the rest of the infant formula industry have used this phrase. Early this morning, I just kept thinking about where the slogan, Breastfeeding Is Best, came from. Where did I first read it? And then it dawned on me that I saw it on cans of infant formula. But I never thought it was a 151 year old infant formula slogan,
http://www.nestle.com/asset-library/documents/creating%20shared%20value/products%20and%20consumers/infant_formula_marketing.pdf
It appears to me that the Fed Is Best Foundation and the Fearless Formula Feeders believe it is a sentence used by breastfeeding promoters to shame women who use infant formula. No, nada, we all use this slogan around the world. Is it to shame mothers who don't breastfeed? No it's what we call, the power of advertising! Having an advertising slogan last a century and a half and still impact the public is pretty amazing. Although it actually scares me. What other thoughts that rattle around in my brain are really just some corporate slogan to influence me and make me buy a product? Think of all the people influenced by Nestlé since 1867. It's a mindset, we are the empty slates in which corporate influence marks its territory. One world brain stumbling through life repeating corporate slogans over and over again. I have heard some people say breastfeeding is better, to make moms feel better about their choice. But actually Nestlé has the very best.....chocolate (I remember this slogan from my childhood in the 1950s and can even see the commercial cause I loved the commercial and begged my mom for chocolate milk--never remember my mom buying chocolate milk. Although I did beg my mom for Tang, and other various advertised products. My Mom bought Tang, "The Breakfast Drink," (advertising slogan remembered from my childhood) but I really was not impressed. I liked mixing it up and using more powder than I was suppose to or just eating the powder cause it was tangy. The power of advertising to children on TV.
I was fascinated by Nestlé's pdf file in which they state,
"DOES support WHO's global public health recommendation calling for exclusive breastfeeding for six months..."
http://www.nestle.com/asset-library/documents/creating%20shared%20value/products%20and%20consumers/infant_formula_marketing.pdf
So an infant formula company supports exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months but Fed Is Best and Fearless Formula Feeders do not support WHO's global public health recommendations on exclusive breastfeeding. Rather interesting that the infant formula industry would support the WHO Code, while these organizations promote their unscientific views of infant feeding. Of course maybe this is just words by Nestlé with no real intention of support of the WHO's global public health recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding. And maybe after these Public Relation organizations saturate their media messages on the internet, this infant formula company will change its tune and no longer support the WHO's global public health recommendations.
So next time someone tells you that "Breastfeeding Is Best" makes formula feeding moms feel bad and shamed. Tell them to blame Nestlé! We are all trapped by the influence of corporate advertising. And sometimes we get trapped for 151 years!!
2018 Valerie W. McClain
No comments:
Post a Comment