By Hazel Parry Nov 24, 2008, 2:09 GMT
Hong Kong - An attractive, smiling, healthy-looking couple pose with their thumbs up in front of a billboard in a Hong Kong railway station showing a teddy bear.
Alongside them is a picture of the US brand Abbott's 'Eye Q' Gain Advance baby milk range which the advert claims has gained the trust of parents, and boasts: 'Abbott formulas are of superior quality and safety.'
It looks harmless enough ... a nice image to assure parents about the safety of a baby milk. That assurance would seem perfectly reasonable in light of the recent melamine milk scandal in China which claimed four babies lives and more than 50,000 took ill after drinking formula milk tainted with the chemical.
However, according to an international watchdog, it is just another example of how baby formula milk manufacturers in Asia violate an international code aimed at preventing harmful marketing which could sway a mother away from breastfeeding.
'It is too promotional and therefore a violation of the code,' said a spokesman from the code monitoring centre of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).
The code in question is the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes - written by UNICEF and adopted in 1981 by the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It covers a wide area including the promotion, labelling, advertising of breast milk substitutes and bans any offers of free samples and incentives to mothers and health professionals.
From 2005, more than 70 countries had made all or most of the code's resolutions law - including 24 of the 30 Asia-Pacific countries and territories such as India, Indonesia and China.
In Thailand, a few provisions of the code have made it into the statute books. However, in other places such as Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, it remains mostly voluntary with governments relying on the industry itself to self-regulate.
Even in places where law enforcement is not ideal, it is not unusual to still find promotional advertisements, says IBFAN.
This is especially so in the wake of the melamine milk scandal, says IBFAN, with international brand manufacturers stepping up advertising and other forms of promotion to increase sales in China and maintain consumer confidence.
In a report entitled 'Look What They Are Doing 2007,' IBFAN highlighted several violations across Asia.
These include leaflets promoting formula brands which are passed off as educational or information for mothers, promotional displays offering free gifts with purchases in supermarkets, labels which claim the milk formula can boost brain power and growth - all of which could influence a mother's decision about whether to breastfeed.
IBFAN says hospitals and health professionals contribute to the the violations by accepting free samples, gifts, promotional material and free supplies of milk formula which is then handed out to new mothers in hospitals and maternity units.
The practice of giving free supplies is common, says IBFAN, and is used by manufacturers to build brand loyalty by hooking new customers while in hospital.
In Hong Kong, local groups promoting breastfeeding are now urging the health department to ban the practice as it makes formula milk seem more acceptable or even better than breast milk for a baby's health and development.
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and then augmented by food and continued breastfeeding for two years and more.
Dr Patricia Ip Lai-sheung, Vice Chairperson of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association, said the practice took place in both government and private hospitals.
'There is a conflict of interest when you are an organization promoting breastfeeding but you receive free formula. You are telling the public you approve of the use of the formula and especially certain types,' said Dr Ip.
Maggie Holmes, of La Leche League Hong Kong, a group dedicated to helping women breastfeed, said donating supplies to hospitals was purely a marketing tactic by manufacturers.
'It is not done out of altruism because chances are the mother will stick with the same brand when they leave hospital.'
IBFAN hopes that the melamine milk scandal will cause governments to put more effort into the protection of breastfeeding and implementation of the code.
A spokesman for Abbott Nutrition, the company behind the advertisement in the Hong Kong station, said it complies with all applicable laws and regulations in all countries where it does business. However, it did not respond to questions about whether the advertisement was in breach of the international code.
IBFAN's code monitoring centre shows the importance of government support in achieving an effective code. It compared the Hong Kong advert to campaigns in other Asian countries, where the code is tighter or supported by laws.
In Singapore, where the code is industry-led and voluntary, Abbott ran a slightly less promotional advert to reassure parents about the safety of their brands.
In contrast to Malaysia where the code is actively overseen by the government, the same company used only a plain, text-only and factual advert.
'The same company (Abbott-Ross) behaves in ways in different countries depending on how the regulations or code are enforced,' said a spokeswoman for IBFAN.
'Hong Kong is the worst because there is no code and companies do not respect the international code. The least violations are in Malaysia which has an updated voluntary code and serious staff in the ministry of health who monitor the situation and follow up on any reported violations.'
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