No free parking for just formula

[SquawkFish]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3929020/Demonised-buying-baby-milk-Tesco-bans-mother-s-car-park-discount-bought-formula-milk-s-EU-rules.html

Just a bit shocked by this despite thinking I was quite pro breastfeeding. Would be interested to hear others views, particularly as the baby is being formula fed due to medical reasons.

And if you need more persuading

Mark Thomas, comedian, versus Nestle!

Here in 2016 it is really difficult to conceive of the dangerous trading practices companies like Nestle used to sell their product. Before the WHO stance Nestle sold into the UK, USA etc in the same underhand manner they still sell into Africa, India etc.

That so many here think this is 'disgusting' shows just how far from those practices we are, here in the UK. We have forgotten, as a society, just how bad unrestricted advertising was. Which is great, showing how well all the campaigns of the 70s were,

But it does mean we will occasionally need reminding why some things are as they are.

This is an international law, drafted via the WHO, nothing to do with the EU.

So when we leave the EU you will still not get free parking, or any other promotional gifts for buying formula!

Yup, sorry. I stand corrected re: EU/UN/world should put contacts in

EU may have legislated or placed regulations on advertising, which would supersede UK law (is that the right way if putting it?) so the spokesperson is not wrong. But they are not entirely correct either - it does become a matter for UK government idc, but that does not mean it can be repealed, but the origins of this were with the UN, not the EU.

(Rather more serious, but Human Rights are essentially the same - leaving EU makes no difference in practice because we are still bound by UN agreements on which British, and other home nation, law depended before EU got round to passing its legislation)

I can't believe this is being made a Brexit thing!

Total twattery!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Code_of_Marketing_of_Breast-milk_Substitutes

But this is NOT formula companies using underhanded advertising practices. It's just a free parking voucher for a massive retailer. It would just take a bit of common sense interpretation to qualify this transaction for free parking without falling foul of the law. (She's not buying formula from Tesco in order to get free parking, she's buying it there because it's available there).

Sell her a 5p bag, charge 1p for parking, say free parking is based on transaction value - regardless of content, offer free parking for all new parents, . It's sticking to the letter of the law instead of the intended purpose and it's totally unnecessary - there is no way Tesco is going to be subject to prosecution for letting formula-only purchasers park for free because their formidable lawyers could quite rightly lay out the case that free parking is not an enticement to purchase formula.

It's the law.. suck it up! Ffs....

Superdrug gives you points.

It's part of the advertising breastmilk substitute code. The formula companies are of course globally powerful and rich that structures had to be put in place to stop them marketing (anymore than they do already) artificial milk as somehow superior to humans own species specific milk.

That said, as long as women are given all the facts and advice on breast/bottle when pregnant then it is entirely an individual's choice how they decide to feed their child and they should not be judged for it.
As another poster on another thread said "your nipples, your choice"

It's not even "new" news!! This has been the case for bloody years!! Guess the Fail couldn't find anything better to cover than this.

As a PP said, she could have picked up a 40p pack of chewing gum but no - the lure of daily mail sadface, anti-EU bashing and anti-BF support bashing was too much.

And I would also hazard a guess that this was a result of the personal interpretation of the person in the store too.

I agree its a farce, and I think giving reward points to mothers who are chosing to give formula is perfectly reasonable.

That said, you give formula companies an inch and they will take a fucking mile. You only have to look at the fact they developed a formula for toddlers purely to subtly advertise their brands to new Mums that they'll take every gap in the law to push formula. There are no multi million pound brands to push breastfeeding. It's trying to level out the playing field and I'd prefer companies like Tesco were as strict as they are rather than being loose with interpretations.

Eeeps, sorry, I was totally unaware of this rule / law.

I've also only just remembered the whole Nestle fiasco, which I am going to now go and read up on again as clearly I need to be more educated in relevant topics.

I am ashamed to say I have been touting the "i see quite a lot of support for FF" and then this morning I read this. Clearly past issues are still having consequences on how it is sold and marketed today, and perhaps that is why people who chose formula are feeling a bit put out.

Thank you to everyone who explained and provided links.

Also - I would love to know if there is a research study on formula vs. breast in an old age population cohort (this was mentioned a few weeks ago, but I can't find the thread).

Strange law

If you could use points or get discount on formula I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a deciding factor for anyone when they are choosing how to feed their baby?!!?

Guess the Fail couldn't find anything better to cover than this;
The guardian covered it as well. This daily fail virtue signalling is getting very boring, some people need to grown up.

Definitely agree you should of course be able to formula feed if you want and not criticised, but it makes sense to limit any incentives/promotions of formula feeding. people are much more influenced by marketing, publicity and offers than they would like to believe, often unconciously, hence why companies spend so much on these departments.

You can use discounts on follow on milk just not first milk. That's the reason follow on milks were invented - to get round the ban on incentives on first infant milk.

If you could use points or get discount on formula I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a deciding factor for anyone when they are choosing how to feed their baby?!!?

It would be a deciding factor on which brand you use - and likely be a more expensive brand which has the margin especially the one that treads a thin line marketing itself like breastmilk. Formula companies profiteer at the expense of FF mothers - the law is designed to cut down on that.

Of course the real solution would be to have unbranded FF and maximum pricing. But the corporate lobbying would kill it.

I suppose it's bacause once you have started formula feeding and have paid a discounted price there is little chance of going back to breastfeeding once the discount ends and you are faced with higher prices.

Formula is excluded from all special offers, discounts, vouchers etc. Formula is not allowed to be promoted in any way in the U.K, for obvious reasons.

Seekinghelp It's "thin end of the wedge" things.

Basically a formula company's ideal is - give woman free formula, tell her it is better, wait a few days until her breast milk dries up, then she has to buy it! Hoorah! Months and months of sales! Profits!

The fact that some of these women, could not afford the milk, had no access to clean water to mix it with, could not adequately sterilise meant that a horrific number of babies died.

Nice requests to stop killing babies didn't work.

So now we have the "scorched earth" policy.

londonrach If Superdrug do then they will be fined - if someone reports it and has proof!

Mothers the SMA adverts? Guess who owns that brand... Guess which brand changed their formula in January without enough advertising, causing some mothers to complain about their kids being made ill... Guess who reduced the pack sizes but not the price?

Nestle are still pushing their products in a less than honest manner.

Remember this is a global issue.

And FF is quite safe in their country, but babies were dying avoidable deaths elsewhere.

And the view was that if there was going to be a measure to protect those lives, then everyone needed to do it. Because it was held to be just wrong (racist, even) to do otherwise.

Superdrug will give points on follow on milk maybe but won't on first milk. Depends what milk you are buying