(If you haven’t already, read How Advertising Hurts Moms, Part 1: Misleading Ads and The Code’s Purpose)
While I was surfing Facebook the other day, an advertisement popped up:
Immediately I (obviously) screen-shotted it and posted it in a couple places to rant about it. Yet another example of misleading, damaging advertising. However, I was rather shocked when some of my friends didn’t seem to understand the problem, so, let’s break it down:
“Very Hungry” baby bottle: The very name implies that the baby needs this breast-like bottle to satiate hunger… a bottle intended for breastfed babies, therefore suggesting they need supplementation to fill up.
Bond better!: The implication here is that by having a bottle that is as much like the breast as possible, you can still share that breastfeeding bond (note: the “bond” has nothing to do with the type of bottle one uses).
Closely mimics the nursing experience: So, what about this bottle that LOOKS like a breast has any relation to actual breastfeeding whatsoever? None.
In fact, this particular ad is even more dangerous than you’d think. Who is most likely to buy a bottle like this? Breastfeeding moms. Who want to avoid nipple confusion, who are concerned about their milk supply (baby’s always ‘very hungry’?), who want to maintain that bond with their baby. However, these types of bottles, the “breast-like” bottles are some of the worst types for breastfeeding moms, with the most incidences of nipple confusion. In fact, this $18 a piece bottle is referred to as a ‘breastfeeding transition bottle.‘ So it is specifically marketed at breastfeeding moms, with the intention of getting their baby ON a bottle… pretty effective since it’s likely to cause some serious latch issues on the breast as well. Yikes.
Does that maybe help explain how a little two-line Facebook ad can be misleading enough that a mom who doesn’t quite trust her supply yet or have good information about supplementing with a bottle might think she’s shelling out extra dough to help prevent nipple confusion, and then that poor mom who is trying to do better ends up even worse off? Research “breast-shaped bottles” and you find a lot of information geared at breastfeeding moms. In fact, information on the types of bottles that are best for breastfeeding moms that are from good sources are kind of hard to come by.
Now, I bet you’re still wondering how my title of this post plays into thinks? Well look at that last line in that ad again… “closely mimics the nursing experience.” You know what other line we hear ALL the time in formula advertising? “Closer than ever to breastmilk.” In fact, every single time formula companies change around ingredients or add a new one (which remember, might not do anything) they then claim it’s even closer to breastmilk than ever before. But what a stupid statement that is.
Closer to breastmilk? Closely mimics the breastfeeding experience? Well, let me think of some other statements along those lines…
Wax Lips: Closely mimics the kissing experience! Red coloring closer than ever to human skin.
stevendepolo/Flickr
Standing on the Roof: Closer to God than ever! See higher than you did… downstairs!
iwona_kellie/Flickr
Sex Doll Now with Human Hair! Closer to a real wife than ever before! Feels more like the real thing!
joanna8555/Flickr
The Zaky hand pillow: assisting parents and their children feel closer to each other.
Helps with pain management and sleep, provides a sense of protection, and assists with the physical and psychological development of the child.
(Oh crap, those are REAL lines for the advertisement of this creepy thing!)
Seriously, I’ve got all night folks, but I think the message is pretty clear. Just because something is designed to loosely replicate something else does not mean it functions like, is similar to, or has the same effects as the real thing. Advertising constantly twists the truth until it’s barely recognizable, if not just a flat out lie. And to expect people our there to know every single detail of every single product and be able to find honest, non-corporation-funded info on every single thing? Not very realistic.
I love to think of myself as intelligent, and not gullible, but hey. I already admitted I bought into the formula/hospital bag brand loyalty trap, didn’t I? I also bought Rosetta Stone (Spanish 1!) from an infomercial… that actually works, by the way.
But we’ve got to be honest and admit that not only do OTHER people buy into lies sometimes, or really misleading language, but sometimes we do too. And when it’s just your rubber sex doll’s realism, it’s not a big deal. But when it’s your breastfeeding relationship and you and your baby’s very lifelong health at stake, that advertising is a huge problem, dangerous, and pretty cruel.
Pretty ridiculous, eh? Once rose-colored glasses are removed and real consequences or messages sent by advertising are considered, it takes someone basically in denial to see that honestly is something not prized by advertising. After all, just this week it was announced that Enfamil has been fined for the sixth time for intentionally misleading advertising… and yet their sales are up. Marketing works. People buy lies. People are HUMAN and can be mislead. But you can also choose to bury your head in the sand, or try to read between the lines and become a conscious consumer. Your choice.
Tags: advertinsing, breastfeeding, international code for marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, marketing, misleading advertising, research
But some women pump because they work. And why would a breast like bottle cause more confusIon than any other bottle? I see your point but think there’s not always a conspiracy against bfing. I think that this one might be stretching a little.
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
There are resources out there, one of which I linked, that show that the bottles that are designed “like a breast” have the HIGHEST incidences of nipple confusion. I thought that was explained well, repeatedly? I’m not saying you can’t supplement with bottles — I’m saying that this ad is specifically aimed AT breastfeeding moms while being a bottle type MOST likely to cause problems with nursing. Instead, breastfeeding moms see this as the MOST likely to give them success, because that’s what the ad intends them to think.
How is that NOT a problem?
Christie, I follow your posts here and on the stir. I generally have a lot of respect for the information that you put out there as I am a breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping mama myself. I am not in any way shape or form trying to be disrespectful or argumentative. I am simply stating that in this particular case, I think that you may be reading too much into the advert. Maybe I am giving the manufacturer too much benefit of the doubt. I was simply trying to point out that there are reasons that breastfeeding moms use bottles besides supplementation. So when I personally read the ad, I don’t think it means my baby isn’t getting enough from me. Also I don’t see a link to the research showing that breast like bottles have the worst rates of nipple confusion, your wording said to search it which I admittedly did not. The link I followed stated the following:
” One shape is not better than another.
The best shape is determined by how a baby sucks on the nipple.” and did not address breast like bottles unless I missed it. I am on my phone so I apologize if I did.
That advertisement and the bottle itself would be illegal where I live, you need to ask your government to ratify the code.
Gee Katipo, where do you live? How do women who can not breastfeed feed their children if bottles are illegal?
Those hand things – I think they are expensive specialist equipment for babies who are so premature that their skin can easily be damaged when they are touched, so parents CAN’T touch or hold them anywhere near as much as they normally would. They’re not just a gimmick for “lazy parents” or something.
I bought into the MimiJumi advertisements, AND the Adiri Natural Nurser advertisements (with the intention of pumping during our frequent roadtrips)…and not once has my EBF baby ever accepted my milk (or even water) from one of these bottles. Basically, I paid WAY too much for a few bottles that now only serve as an elaborate teether for my little guy. ^_^
IMO the latch these bottles create is WAY different than actual nursing, esp compared to cheaper bottles (playtex, born free, ect)
But I do have to give it to them…these bottles DO look very sleek and modern. Not that this makes it any better for BF moms, but an expensive plus for FF moms I suppose.
I have always found the breast shaped bottles laughable. I am insulted by the advertisement. It do think it suggests that I can’t feed my child enough without help. I didn’t think about the hands being for preemie babies, but the are still a bit scary.
Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I can’t believe that ANYONE would let advertisements persuade them to buy something…what, do these people see an ad, go “I gotta have that”, and jump up off the computer and go buy whatever they saw? People need to learn to LAUGH at the advertisements, stop buying the “fluff” that is such an expensive drain on their resources (hey, maybe you could get out of debt if you quit putting all that crap on your credit card) and GET REAL. Advertisements are put out there to target people that want to spend their money on crap, smart people (and those of us who don’t have money to spend on crap) know enough to ignore these gimicks.
Also, I’m so tired of seeing statements like “this is why mother’s quit breastfeeding” and the conitinuous bottle vs breast wars. If a mother truely wants to breastfeed and keep up the relationship, she will and she will go out and FIND the resources she needs (which are available all over our great country these days, and the internet)…if that is not her wish, she will go to a bottle no matter what you tell her because it is available to her because she probably (as one of my friends said the other day) “wants her breasts to herself.”
Heather, I agree. I can’t imagine a bottle advertisement persuading me to stop breastfeeding. I personally ran into problems breastfeeding. Because everyone cites lack of support and pressure to stop I assumed I already knew the pitfalls I might run into. I was going to tell those nurses to shove their formula! Except it didn’t happen that way. He would not latch. From the beginning. He hated it. And not because of a bottle. Because he didn’t know how. I consulted an IBCLC and I didn’t give up and we made it through. It’s a much longer story but the point is, it was the most important thing to me going into it and so I was committed.
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
Ladies, the point is not to say that ads will just kill someone’s breastfeeding. It’s not that simple and to say it is is an insult to women, sure. But how many moms who breastfeed and want to supplement and not face nipple confusion think the Adiri bottle is GOOD? That it works? That it is more breast-like and less likely to cause problems?
MANY.
And that’s the issue.
There’s absolutely no proof whatsoever that they help, and in fact proof that they don’t. Yes, my link isn’t sufficient, but the book in relation has much on the subject, as it’s a book solely about “Balancing the Breast and Bottle” that is geared towards success — not profit of a product intended to make money… even at the expense of moms. Also, read this bottle — it says TRANSITION, meaning to get a baby off the breast. But it’s not advertised that way, is it?
And the hands… guys, look at the ads yet AGAIN. Sure, they may be great for a unique situation, but they are NOT advertised that way. It’s just like the chemical drops that make your eyelashes grow but can damage your vision and dye your iris — they’re MARKETED towards just WOMEN, but they’re designed for suffers of trichotillomania, a condition where people compulsively pluck out hair, including eyelashes, until it doesn’t grow back. The drug for trich-suffers? GREAT, and I’m glad it exists for them. But it’s advertised for women the same way mascara is, and the risks to your eyesight are downplayed, and that’s tricky marketing, and screwed up at that. So yes, hands for preemies/special cases? GREAT! For random people? Not so hot.
Get it?
Thanks for explaining where the information came from. I had never heard that and my personal experience has been different. I had not read the book but tried a few different bottles/nipples out and my son had the best latch with Tommee Tippee bottles over traditionally shaped wide or narrow nipples. The flow was a little too fast for him in the beginning though but those and first year’s breastflow bottles worked best for us. We must be in the minority for what works.
I can never really understand why people don’t get that advertisements are powerful, and can be quite harmful to the general public. I suppose that these people don’t know anything about advertising and marketing, and don’t know that these companies spend billions of collective dollars to get inside the minds of the public and sway their purchasing and lifestyle decisions. Christie – you saw that ad because of a little thing called behavioral targets. Facebook knows that you’ve said the words formula or breastfeeding on your page (or anywhere on the internet, actually) and they serve you up the ads that they think are relevant to you. Then, they beat you over the head with it on tons of other websites you visit until it because subliminal. I worked in product management for online display advertising before my career switch, and I can tell you that my entire day was spent analyzing the ways to track users behaviors to make sure that they saw ads we wanted them to see, and that they’d continue to see those ads everywhere they went. For example, if you search for a Toyota Camry on Cars.com, a “cookie” (an internet tracking device, essentially) is dropped in your browser, and now if you go anywhere else in the ad network, you’re going to be served ads for a Toyota Camry to keep it “top of mind.” Yahoo, Google, and Bing have huge ad networks and publishing platforms that work with other websites (like WebMD) to utilize and optimize this form of advertising.
Advertising and marketing are POWERFUL machines, and if some advertiser wants you to think you can find the “nursing experience” with their bottle, it makes perfect sense to me that an unsuspecting mother might be swayed to buy it. Not all of us are militant lactivists who just plain know better.
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
Gina, thank you. I’m more and more surprised all the time at the level of denial people go through over messages in advertising. If people would stop for two seconds and consider that ad execs make MILLIONS and it’s such an enormous industry that have accounts that make or break peoples’ LIVES because they’re considered so important, they might for two seconds consider that advertisement is so high profile and expensive BECAUSE it totally works — and part of the reason it works is because people ARE in such denial that it does.
Conspiracy theories it’s not, though sometimes it sounds like it. You know, and Gerber’s out to help us raise healthy kids.
I am a NICU RN. Those “Hand things” are in fact a medically used item in Neonatal ICU’s for babies who need constant touch and the feel of someones hand on them. They are not sold in stores and are very expensive. Some of our patients/babies are in a lot of pain, under a lot of stress, and need to be held and soothed 24/7. They were invented by a NICU momma to one of those babies. She was physically unable to stand at his bedside 24/7..and he was inconsolable unless he felt the weight of his moms hand on his back. We do have “cuddlers”, volunteers who hold and hand swaddle our patients when parents are unavailable, but they are only there sometimes, and definately not at 3 am or on weekends.
So yes creepy, but necessary and vital in certain situations.
I am studying for the IBCLC exam this summer and am a momma to a 19 month old that is still breastfeeding strong. My son has never tasted formula. I love your posts and always read them with interest. I think that the advertisers are evil too. I do think this post is reading a bit too deep though, I didn’t “get” that they were implying the baby is still hungry after nursing.
Well written thoughts! I particularly like your wax lips and roof analogies…would you consider sharing them? I am co-author of the link in your article. The mimijumi packaging is spectacular: rich colored little milk cartons. Very persuasive. We have tested the flow of mimijumi bottles, and used them with a few babies. I have yet to see a nice latch on this bottle. Not to say it wouldn’t work for some babies, but the nipple length is probably too long for most, and base too wide for a baby’s lips to grasp. One clarificiation needs to be made, though. They market two bottles: not-so hungry and very hungry. Those descriptions refer to how many ounces the bottle holds. A young baby would use the “not-so hungry” size. Their marketing isn’t truthful, but the bottle name isn’t quite as clear as you’ve explained. I’m serious about borrowing the wax lips idea…could you contact me?
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
Thanks Amy, I didn’t see the ounce comments. That’s helpful, and at least makes that bit seem less pointed.
Go for it on the analogies, I don’t mind one bit. I had help from Bettina Forbes and Amy West of Best for Babes in coming up with some of them as well. The wax lips was specifically Bettina’s idea. If you use the same pictures, just make sure you use the photo credits as well — each image is linked directly to it’s source.