Barriers to Breastfeeding in Media - Essay Example

The practice of breastfeeding is considerably decreasing in society owing to the marketing of products that provide substitutes for breast milk. The paper will analyze the product that promotes bottle-feeding culture and is causing breastfeeding to come to an end. Here is a link to the product by Nestle that is named ‘Baby milk action’ that is the focus of this paper http://www.babymilk.nestle.com/breastfeeding-is-best/role-of-infant-formula/Pages/default.aspx. The message given by the manufacturers of this particular product is the need for parents to provide substitute milk for breastfeeding as they cannot find enough time to do so due to their busy schedules.
The message given by this product targets the parents and influences them into using their product which they consider being the best substitute for human milk. The message is exploited intensively through the marketing of this product. As nestle is a big name in the food products industry, people are bound to get influenced by its marketing strategies. Consequently, people have adopted the practice of bottle-feeding instead of providing their babies with breast milk. WHO had taken action against Nestle and an international boycott was done of Nestle products due to its inappropriate marketing of breast milk substitutes (Huggins, 2010).
In a mini-focus group survey, consumers were asked about the impact this message creates on them and the responses depicted that the message was intended to promote the use of bottle-feeding as compared to breastfeeding. The aim of the company in producing such substitute milk is to get high revenues from the big market segment that gets influenced by their marketing. As people are misguided into believing that such products act as a complete replacement for breast milk, they tend to buy and use such products more often. A lot of dollars are spent on marketing such products which are actually helping the company gain huge profits (Felton, 2006).
A Letter to Company by Consumer
Hello,
I have been a frequent user of nestle products and I have always found your products good in quality. However, I have an issue with one product of yours which as a parent concerns me greatly. You have been manufacturing baby milk action that you claim to be a substitute for breastfeeding. I disagree with this point of view as no artificial milk can provide a replacement for human milk and cannot give a baby those benefits. The message that your product gives is misleading and it has actually promoted the use of bottle-feeding making in our culture. I would therefore suggest that you change the message that people can go for breast milk substitutes when they do not find time to breastfeed their children. It can be replaced by the statement that people could make use of this product only if a mother is unable to breastfeed her child due to unavoidable reasons and should not be used on regular basis.
Advertising
Women have been depicted in the advertising world as creatures who are beautiful physically. One can witness the billboards, media, and advertising means that associate women with the value of being beautiful. Here an ad for a product has been selected that focuses on the need for women to behave beautiful wrinkle-free skin.
The message that this ad delivers to women and other people is that women can have youthful skin even in their late fifties or sixties. Therefore, it focuses on the need of a woman to look beautiful and considers it their sole aim to get ideal beauty. Of course, it implies setting an unrealistic goal for aged women as they cannot just look younger by using a particular cream without getting unhealthy effects from its use. The message more importantly targets aged females or those women who have started having wrinkles on their faces (Marotz, 2011).
The critical analysis of this product shows that it is not a necessary product and one that could improve women’s health.
The presence of such items in the market has stigmatized and labeled women as humans that should ‘look’ beautiful (Kendall-Tackett, et. al., 2010). However, the focus is given to outer beauty only and not on the inner self.
The message presented by this product could be replaced with other words that do not stress the need to have ‘wrinkle-free skin’. It is advisable to spread the message in a way that does not offend the aged women and do not target them directly by highlighting their shortcoming. It could have been that wrinkles are not bad but one can get them removed if desired by using this product. Read More