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Born to Breastfeed
An Advertising Campaign Worth Watching By Kelly Burgess
Partly due to the activities of breastfeeding activists, who desperately want to get the message out, the breastfeeding campaign launched in spring 2004 with a few changes. Dr. Newman says that the campaign aims to make breastfeeding as well-promoted as formula feeding.
One obstacle to the promotion of breastfeeding has been that physicians generally have absolutely no training in breastfeeding, but that's not the case with formula. Industry reps visit doctor's offices to instruct them on the latest advances and benefits with formula. When the two combine – lack of breastfeeding education and an abundance of formula education – it's no wonder breastfeeding becomes the second choice, even for physicians.
Will the ad campaign help? Cindy Curtis, IBCLC, administrator of Breastfeeding Online, worries that the campaign may not be well received because of society's discomfort with the idea of breasts. She's found that advertising for breastfeeding isn't always easy.
"I'll put breastfeeding backgrounds on the computers at work, and people will change them," says Curtis. "We had some supervisors put up pictures of moms breastfeeding, and people complained because they showed 'boobs.'"
According to Dr. Newman and others, the problem is that we live in a society where bottle feeding is seen as the norm, partly because the breast has strong sexual connotations in our culture. In the end, "boobs" have to become commonplace if breastfeeding is to become accepted as normal and natural. Advocates agree that, barring access to the kind of funds formula companies have, this campaign is a good place to start.
