The UN World Health Organization purchased services from social
media intelligence to “listen” to billions of daily exchanges and conversations
among social media users on digital platforms, websites, forums, Facebook, and monitor
for key words, phrases, and gather, organize, analyze it on immoral and illegal
marketing practices of multi-national formula milk manufacturers exploiting
parents, mothers, infants.
Formula milk companies pay social media platforms and
influencers for access to pregnant women and mothers who are targeted with
personalized social media content not recognizable as advertising. Content is posted approximately 90 times a
day, reaching 229 million users - three times those reached by informational
posts with evidence that breastfeeding improves health for Infants and Mothers,
If current formula milk marketing strategies continue, that
proportion could fall still further, while boosting companies’ profits of more
than $55 billion per year globally.
“The promotion of commercial milk formulas should have been
terminated decades ago,” said Dr Francesco Branca, Director of WHO Nutrition
and Food Safety Department. “The fact that formula milk companies are now
employing even more powerful and insidious marketing techniques to drive up
their sales is inexcusable…”