Sucks to Suck

Nursing is shown to be beneficial to infants, and the United States has very low nursing rates. To remedy this, the DHHS wanted to make breastfeeding a public health issue and planned to use "edgy" ads akin to meth ads or any of those driving safety (pro-seatbelt/anti-texting-and-driving/anti-drunk driving, etc., etc.) ads that would show nursing vs. not nursing as a high stakes issue that could have serious consequences for infants. The DHHS had shopped around for an advertising company that could produce ads that made a difference, and found that fear-inducing ads are more effective than the friendly, gentle alternative.  However,  the formula industry was not at all pleased when it caught wind of the proposed ad campaign, and used its political clout (via expert lobbyists) to intervene. The softer ads were run, and the DHHS saw no real change in the nation's breast feeding rate while the Formula companies continued to profit.

It was disappointing but not at all surprising to see that the formula industry (which includes companies that are divisions of big pharmaceutical companies) was able to manipulate the situation in its favor, because it didn't think it would be "fair" to have some competition. This is clearly yet another issue that was more about money/ego soothing than the actual health of our citizens. Incredible.

The DHHS should certainly consider these topics in the future, because the health of infants is an important issue. Also, while it is important to use effective advertising, the DHHS should aim to use more than just fear tactics to see results. The DHHS should increase education about the benefits of nursing, alongside their scary health issues ad campaign, to temper the fear with knowledge--scare 'em into paying attention, and then teach them about health risks and benefits for breastfeeding vs. formula feeding for their children.