Was Tesco a bit thoughtless in choosing this Image for newborn nappies packaging?

[Bigmouthstrikesagain]

There has been some debate on the Politics of breastfeeding facebook group regarding and I am not sure if I want to raise it with Tesco. Or dismiss the issue, as likely to raise resentment from some quarters about oversensetive 'wimmin' whining on about breastfeeding and making other women feel bad about their choices etc.!

Still I don't know how long Tesco have used a picture of a woman bottle feeding a newborn on this nappy packaging so maybe it's old news!??

I would be interested in other views on this, cheers.

I was too tired and stressed when DD was a newborn and I can honestly say I never even looked at the packaging - in fact I just typed new born nappies into the Tesco online shop and clicked a button

If nobody looked at packaging we would have a very much smaller graphic design industry!

Before anyone at Tesco, their design department or their design agency put pen to paper, there would have been a clear, written brief outlining the message that they were trying to convey about their product, as well as who they were aiming to target.

Given that Tesco is the UK's biggest supermarket it doesn't have a particular demographic to appeal to - it has to appeal to all shoppers, so it's very unlikely that it was aimed at downmarket/less well off mothers.

I would put money on it, though, that it was designed by someone who doesn't have children - and that the marketing team was probably also young things without children either, so none of them would be aware in the least that depicting a bottle feeding mother could be, in any way, offensive.

I am always staggered by how many marketing people I deal with have so little understanding of their consumers. And I have done a lot of work in the last 5 years or so on nappies and wipes, amongst other things.

I certainly hope that is the case rather than some insidious plot to circumvent formula advertising restrictions.
Unfortunately Tesco has a reputation that makes me suspicious.

It would only be a plot if they were being paid by formula companies - and I really doubt that they would be prepared to fund that kind of operation, especially as they would all have to agree to it. And given that it's illegal, it's an awful lot of possible trouble that they and Tesco could get into. There would be so many people involved it would be impossible to stop it leaking out.

From an advertising point of view, it's irrelevant what was in the bottle. Advertising is about symbols and imagery, not realities. It's all about implying a message.

The majority of people seeing a baby drinking from a bottle will take a message about formula feeding.

Sadly such images on everyday items reinforce formula-feeding as the norm.

"The subliminal message is a happy mum and baby is a bottle-fed new-born baby.

I can't think of any other nappy packs that have a picture of a baby being fed. I think it's a back-door way of marketing formula"

Seriously?

I think it's a strange image for nappies...but can't bring myself to read that level of conspiracy theory into it!

This is when MNers sound like they are losing the plot, IMVHO.

Agree with CarmenSanDiego. The whole image actyually makes me feel quite depressed. Let us know if a response is received.

Am I the only one who had leaky Tesco nappies...

DH was incandescent when he saw the packaging. He's quite militant and was all for complaining, so I said he was welcome to do that, but he's so shy he didn't actually do anything.

So far I have received a couple of generic email replies acknowledging my email so hopefully I will get a more considered reply from the Tesco MD in due course.

I do not think Tesco have a huge marketing budget in order to shove any old image on their packaging - thought and planning goes into all design decisions and yes people are affected by the advertising imagery we see around us. It is naive to think otherwise. Tesco should be pulled up on this.

I think my email to Tesco was rational and reasonable, simply pointing out that as guidelines are in existence to ban advertising formula for babies under 6 months, the image they had used (on the nappy packaging) was inappropriate for a product designed for newborns.

Bigmouth - My polite email was much the same.

Not the ravings of a mad conspiracy theorist.

i came on to start a thread on this, good job i searched first!

anyone who thinks Tesco are innocent enough to have just happened to choose a picture of a baby bottle feeding on a newborn pack of nappies is, to put it mildly, very naive.

how many other brands of nappies have pictures of a feeding child on? i would imagine the number is zero.
yu would expect to see perhaps, a child wearing the nappy and looking happy right?

The fact is, a tremendous amount of pregnant or new mothers are going to walk down the baby aisle in tesco.
the vast majority of those will purchase nappies.
Many of those may just see this picture and think "ohh, yes, must get some bottles in" (either because they;'re planning on formula feeding, or just in case)
"oh look, i'm stood here right next to all these bottles, teats, cleaning equipment and formula, how handy"

this isn't accidental. it's marketing at it's most subversive and worst.

i would expect nothing else from Tesco

Offensive? Bottle feeding is offensive?

their smallest sized nappies - size 1

here don't have a feeding baby

it's their size 2's with a feeding baby on.................and tbh to me it look a lot older than a newborn.........

to say it's only about formula is also misleading.

tesco don't just sell formula, they make a packet selling bottles, teats, sterilisers and associated paraphernalia.

yes, becase they know it would look a bit weird if all of them had a feeding baby on.

like previous poster said, they don't bung any old picture on. this will have been thought out to attempt to get the maximum money out of people.
otherwise they'd save themselves the time and money and just have them in a plain packet.

and i agree, people bottle feed ebm all thet ime.

but it';s about what people think when they see it. the vast majority of mothers in this country formula feed.
everywhere you go you see people bottle feeding (and yes, it's normally formula), you see pictures of mothers feeding, it's used as a symbol to indicate feeding areas or baby rooms, it's on packets of bloody nappies!

tell me the last time you saw a picture of someone breastfeeding? i don't even think breastpumps and breastfeeding "accessories" have a pciture of a woman actually feeding do they??

bottle feeding is the norm, and every single picture you see, tv show that features it, packet of nappies with it on inherently backs that up.

so maybe they shouldn't sell bottles, teats, sterilisers etc etc? As perhaps a pg mother may be tempted to buy it? I just don't get it - sorry

Bigmouth - go for it. Let us know what you do and how to support your protest!

I haven't read all this thread but while on the subject of Tesco, i was looking through the tesco direct catalogue and came across the page with baby milk (page 758).

there is a photo of a baby bottle feeding and beside it reads "feed your baby the healthiest nutrients with our new & in demand handy pack sizes"

I may be over reacting but i just thought this was out of order from the biggest money making supermarket to advertise like this. Nothing against anyone who chooses to bottle feed but i just think this is mis-leading surely the healthiest nutrients are in breast milk.

Im absolutely on board, there is no need to show a picture of a baby bottle feeding on nappy packs, completely unrelated so it makes me think this has been thought up for some other reason, after all, these big companies do spend millions and a lot of thought and money goes on subconscious advertising.
Anyway.....i see some people have said they arent suprised by Tesco, what else are they guilty of, I havent really heard that much about them...

that must be against the code isn't it?

that#s surely advertising?
unless it was follow-on? hmmm

Honestly, I'm amazed that everything is apparently a conspiracy against BF . The packaging has probably been this way for umpteen years w/o anyone even having noticed. If you honestly think that the product developers at any supermarket sit around a table and discuss at length subliminal messages to put on packaging then you are seriously mistaken. Tesco will be rubbing their hands together that you think their process is that sophisticated!

A design house is used to come up with a pack design for a particular product in a range. As other posters have mentioned, they do nothing more than search image databases and pull out anything they think fits the products i.e pictures of babies.

A 20yr old 'Technical Manager' straight out of uni then signs the design off checking the spelling and legalities are correct. Thats it, job done and onto the next of 200 lines that the poor sod will have to sign off the rest of the week.

Sorry to burst your bubble, having consulted for 3 of the biggest supermarkets in the UK, they are all the same (yes, even beloved Waitrose!) and you'd be amazed at how little thought actually goes into most of it. Just a reality check.

Er, Earplugs has a point. I actually worked at a design company that Tesco used for packaging and not nearly enough thought went into the images used. EG when the company came up with new packaging for cereal aimed at children (for Tesco) the art team (all 20 something yr old, mainly male) just brainstormed so kiddy style images. Mock up followed, sent to Tesco which was signed off by a very junior person on the marketing team. End of.

I have never noticed the image before and we have bought these nappies back in July. In fact, they were accidentally bought (mixed up with Pampers - we just saw yellow and the size and assumed).

Ok, agree a bottle fed baby image should not have been used but don't believe there is anything sinister involved in it (as I have seen the design process 1st hand).

I remember a thread a while about about Maria from Corrie FFing her baby and the madness on here about it was unreal - emails to ITV, teats being melted down to make picket signs etc. Twas funny reading.

There is no conspiracy, its a plastic wrapper for nappies with a feeding baby (could be FF, could be EBF, who cares knows)

What is interesting to me is that the only people mentioning conspiracies on this thread are those who think any one who objects to the image is overreacting.

I have stated that Tesco has a large marketing budget and that I don't think choices are made by accident - I still think that. I don't think there is a big conspiracy against breastfeeding in this country but I do think that people (in general) see bottle feeding as the norm, and it is the way the majority of women feed their babies. For that reason alone I feel that nappies for newborns should not be promoting that 'norm'. I do not think a breastfeeding image should be used either.

You can agree or disagree - but I assure you I am not a mad conspiracy theorist. I have written one email and started a thread to see what people think that is not hysterical reaction either - I am merely interested in others opinions - I love a mass debate me!