•The revelation comes weeks before Kenya is set to ban most advertising and promotion of milk formula.
•This pervasive marketing is increasing purchases of breast-milk substitutes and therefore dissuading mothers from breastfeeding exclusively as recommended by WHO.
World Health Organisation says it has uncovered a shocking extent of exploitative formula milk marketing.
The WHO said formula milk companies are paying social media platforms and influencers to manipulate pregnant women and mothers at some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives.
The global formula milk industry, valued at some US$55 billion, is targeting new mothers with personalized social media content that is often not recognizable as advertising.
The revelation comes weeks before Kenya is set to ban most advertising and promotion of milk formula.
A new World Health Organization (WHO) report titled Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breast-milk substitutes outlines the digital marketing techniques designed to influence the decisions new families make on how to feed their babies.
Through tools like apps, virtual support groups or ‘baby-clubs’, paid social media influencers, promotions and competitions and advice forums or services, formula milk companies can buy or collect personal information and send personalized promotions to new pregnant women and mothers.
"These posts reached 2.47 billion people and generated more than 12 million likes, shares or comments," the report says.
"Formula milk companies post content on their social media accounts around 90 times per day, reaching 229 million users; representing three times as many people as are reached by informational posts about breastfeeding from non-commercial accounts."
This pervasive marketing is increasing purchases of breast-milk substitutes and therefore dissuading mothers from breastfeeding exclusively as recommended by WHO.
“The promotion of commercial milk formulas should have been terminated decades ago,” said Dr Francesco Branca, Director of the WHO Nutrition and Food Safety department, in a statement. “The fact that formula milk companies are now employing even more powerful and insidious marketing techniques to drive up their sales is inexcusable and must be stopped.”
The Kenya Breast Milk Substitutes regulations, which comes into force at the end of May, stops promotion of breast milk substitutes to protect mothers and babies.
Gladys Mugambi, head of the division of health promotion in the Ministry of Health, recently said: “After Parliament passed the Breast Milk Supplements Regulation and Control Act of 2012, the rate of breastfeeding in Kenya actually doubled."
“So we realised we need more regulations to guide the implementation.”
The regulations also prohibits marketing activities such as cross-promotions and informational inserts.
It also establishes rules to restrict promotional marketing of breast milk substitutes and designated products, donations, labelling and establish requirements for informational and educational materials and activities.
Data from the ministry shows that four in every 10 children are not exclusively breastfed.
Only one in every five children is fed in accordance with the three recommended complementary feeding practices.
Experts recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months to provide the perfect nutrition the child needs for healthy growth and brain development.
WHO says despite clear evidence that exclusive and continued breastfeeding are key determinants of improved lifelong health for children, women and communities, in most countries far too few children are breastfed as recommended. If current formula milk marketing strategies continue, that proportion could fall still further, boosting companies’ profits.
WHO has already called on the baby food industry to end exploitative formula milk marketing, and on governments to protect new children and families by enacting, monitoring and enforcing laws to end all advertising or other promotion of formula milk products.