Is this an illegal promotion?

[AgaPanthers]

See attached Ocado advert from Google search for 'SMA gold'

To be

Of course you are right. The issue wrt discounting infant formula still applies to even one tin though. In this case one tin will not achieve a discount but the law says no promotion, not at your local Spar, or pharmacy, supermarket, nowhere.

So let's just say a family is under immense financial pressure, baby was premature and as a result is now formula fed, so this family heaven forbid get to save 20p off a single carton of formula or they order their online shop and get £15/£20 off their entire weeks shop. That £20 now means next week's shop that would be tight and maybe unaffordable and they are panicking about not eating so they can purchase the formula needed, this now elevates this pressure for 1 more week.

Ohh there are the few BF out there that seem to feel they can launch an attack on FF and don't deny their existence, we all know they do. I came across one when bottle feeding my friends baby in a cafe while she popped to the loo. This crazy mother earth type woman decodes to share her opinion in a rather rude and abrasive manner, I just sat there indifferent from it as it wasn't my baby, but if she had launched that attack on my friend (the mother) that would have really upset her.

I wasn't Googling to mount a crusade I was just Googling the name because I couldn't remember if I'd got it right or if it was called something slightly different.

If you dont FF, why do you need to know the name?

Perhaps OP is out and about, not near her storage cupboard atm.

It's NOT an attack on FF for goodness sake;it's to stop unethical global companies promoting their products at the expense of BF which in some parts of the world is downright harmful.

Look at the bigger picture. It's not about trying to prevent families on the breadline saving 20p a tin.

Google the babymilk action website and inform yourself.

I think it 'a amazing how supermarkets are allowed to market cheap booze with discounts and multibuys, but not infant formula. I wonder which is the biggest threat to public health?

Oh bollocks if you feed your baby a certain brand you can probably spell it and recognise it half asleep standing on your head.

And how do you forget one of the best known formulas on the market, that has been around since the beginning of formula...SMA it's hardly that hipp organic or a less well known brand is it?

We bought Similac.

I know of babymilk action, I won't share my opinion of them, it will serve no purpose to this debate.

I am genuinely confused about why content FFers would be getting so cross about this. Is it purely because of the cost of formula?

PeddlarsSpanner- They aren't encouraging parent to chop and change formulas they're encouraging them to change supermarkets by giving a special offer.

What Showy said.

The formula companies have proven themselves time and again and a-fucking-gain to be unethical. These laws protect us all from them. Bf or ff.

So you don't think women are capable of making decisions on their own?

So are all FF women like sheep and just que up for the cheapest thing going?

Personally I find this no advertising/no promotion on infant milk insulting and patronising to women and families who formula feed. Basically saying we think you are too thick to make the best choice for your baby if you can't/wont breastfeed and refuse donated milk, so now we're just going to make it expensive and restrict it's advertising like tobacco because who knows if your formula feeding you might want to shove tobacco down your babies throat too

Yes stuff which formula sits best with the baby, that gold star on a tub makes me channel my inner magpie. I can't resist.

"I can't breastfeed, so would happily love to save some money on baby milk, but thanks to the Gov that will never happen!"

pumpkinsweetie, this isn't the government's fault. The law means that there can't be special promotions on formula and that companies could, if they chose to, price their formula much lower. A tin of formula costs to the manufacturer about 15-20% the cost on the shelf.

We have had this argument many times on mumsnet.

I am always amazed that some people take the law as a personal comment on their feeding experiences, and that they feel 'insulted' by it, thinking it is some sort of assessment of their intelligence.

I hope no one thinks I am being patronising when I tell them it's not ABOUT them.

Really, it isn't.

It's not ABOUT an individual's intelligence, or ability to spell a formula brand, or choice of feeding method.

The reason for the law preventing temporary special offers on formula milk is, actually, to protect the health and nutrition of formula fed babies. Marketing of any other sort is unethical.

Permanent low prices would be fine. But I don't see manufacturers queuing up to do that.

This whole argument makes me so angry.

Yes it's the law, it doesn't make it right though.

I 100% plan to breastfeed, however if I can't for whatever reason, is it right that I'd be forced to pay what ever prices are forced upon me? Without being able use an offer, or even a first time order voucher FFS. It's discrimination and it's wrong. And it's making companies like sma and the shops that sell it money at the detriment of the parents who are just trying to do the best thing for their babies.

"is it right that I'd be forced to pay what ever prices are forced upon me? "

That's the same with any other product, if you want it you must pay the asking price. You can't go to the greengrocers and offer them 20p/pound for apples or 50p for a kg of cherries.

Boudica, in your rush to denigrate those people who are anti ff (v few and far between), you are being spectacularly rude to people and ascribing motives where there are none. I'm willing to bet good money that those bfers trying to uphold the law are actually trying to protect ff babies and their families from unethical global practice. I'd go as far as to say that the vast majority would welcome formula being affordable and ethical and accessible to all who need/want it. Please don't be so rude to people who actually are trying to help. Or at least ask and listen before being so reductive and unfair in your assertions.

But of you want fairy liquid you can get it for £1 a bottle in Asda but £2 in Tesco for identical products, because asda can place a special offer on.

I wasn't attempting to be rude, I'm just rather blunt and to the point sometimes.

I don't care how you feed babies, but feel an injustice is placed upon formula fed babies.

I can see why people might get upset when formula milk is put alongside fags and weapons as "things which can't be promoted"!

I'm not trying to be prickly but I don't get it. How does not allowing a tin of formula to be included in the overall price of a trolley of goods to use a voucher or not including f in loyalty points schemes, protect the health of ff babies?

"So you don't think women are capable of making decisions on their own?

So are all FF women like sheep and just que up for the cheapest thing going?

Personally I find this no advertising/no promotion on infant milk insulting and patronising to women and families who formula feed. Basically saying we think you are too thick to make the best choice for your baby if you can't/wont breastfeed and refuse donated milk, so now we're just going to make it expensive and restrict it's advertising like tobacco because who knows if your formula feeding you might want to shove tobacco down your babies throat too"

I agree with this...