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.

Bigmouth - there are plenty of people who are against this image on this thread who are suggesting its a conspiracy, just perhaps the word "conspiracy" isn't being used (agenda, "thought up for some other reason", subliminal messaging etc)

Agree though that a product for the aftermath of food shouldn't have said food on it, perhaps a turd or something would be more appropriate......

Advertising is about getting a message across both obviously and subliminally so anyone suggesting that is not actually identifying a conspiracy - merely poiniting out a marketing agenda. Selling more products is the objective, profits are the bottom line.

But happy to agree to disagree on this point.

poniting? - pointing

Things like this really don't enter into my mind when I see them tbh.

There was a thread a while ago about bottles being in a pattern on the front of a birth congratulations card.
And...?

I am more concerned at the woman's facial expression.... if that's what having a baby does to you....

Ladyoftheflowers - She does look manic.

Bigmouth - No response as yet.

Southmum - The pervasiveness of the bottle feeding culture is a concern for many people on here. Some posters simply want breastfeeding to be more widely accepted as normal and feel that images like this are counter productive to the cause.
It is tiresome that others get so defensive, as though it is an attack on their decision to formula feed. It is categorically not. It is a little unpleasant to pop up on threads like this simply to sneer at peoples efforts.

Tesco want to keep their costs down. The idea that they sit around having big meetings about the image for one product out of thousands of lines and how they could make it have a subliminal pro-bottle-feeding message is a bit ridiculous. At least listen to Earplugs and others of us that know a little bit about the design process.

I like Earplugs have a very good idea of what the design team behind this will be like - young, laddish men who will not have even the vaguest awareness of the BF/FF debate, but who think that tits are for lads' mags not for babies and think of a bottle when they think of a baby.

Doesn't make it OK, of course the ethos of BFing should be promoted far more than it is and it would be lovely to see a BFing baby on a packet of nappies, but sneaky evil Tesco conspiracy - I think not.

I think that the packaging for own brand products tends to be designed by more junior people, basing this entirely on the fact that my friend designed the packing for a supermarket's doughnut package.

So they'd be less likely to have children and have thought much about feeding, so it could be an 'innocently used' image. Then again I wouldn't put anything past Tesco...

The issue is simply one of the use of iconic imagery that reinforces a bottle feeding culture. For some people that isn't an issue. They are presumably not aware of the fact that for a lot of women, the 'choice' to breastfeed is more or less an invisible one...breastfeeding is actively sneered at by their families, if it is mentioned at all, and people who breastfeed are sneered at. Or else it's just thought of as totally odd and weird. Read some of the posts on here -including a current thread - to see examples of this.

All that makes it harder for women who might otherwise at least try to breastfeed. Surely we want mothers to choose a feeding method based on reasons other than not wanting to seem weird or perverse.

Constant images of bottles and bottle feeding contribute to the 'strangeness' and 'otherness' of breastfeeding.

Obviously one pic on a box of nappies is not going to sway any individual one way or the other.

But there is a principle here - and it's got nothing to do with what the pictured woman might or might not have in the bottle.

Ad it also has nothing to do with what individual real life women do, either!

I don't think it matters whether it's a conspiracy or thoughtlessness. Those of us who agree it's a Bad Thing, let's try and do something about it.

I will email Terry Leahy.

Oh and btw a lot of people do find BF offputting and even disgusting. Yes, it's wrong and horrific that that is the case, but if some designer sees a pic of a baby at the breast and thinks urgh no not that one, he'd be reflecting what many people think, including many mothers.

I remember one mum I met when DS was tiny, seeing me BF and remarking in amazement "He really loves it doesn't he!? Maybe I should have BF but I just found the idea so disgusting and none of my mates would do it and they would think I was a freak."

Tragic but the truth. I imagine if there is any actual thought behind this image on Tesco's part it would just be "ugh no a BF pic would put people off" and sadly they'd be absolutely right.

I never said that it was the product of hours of high level meetings - merely said that decisons are made and briefings are given and decisions are not accidental - I do not think that is 'ridiculous'

• I do hate it when people identify the extreme of any point you are making then place you firmly at that extremity - its cold out on the lunatic fringe I like to keep myself on the cosy rational part of the spectrum thanks

(I am in favour of contacting Tesco about this, I just think the conspiracy theory attitude is not helpful. Occam's razor, that's not how it happened, and if we want to get things like this changed it helps not to come across as irrational)

Bigmouth apologies if you thought I was calling you irrational - it wasn't particularly your posts I was responding to but others that talked about subversiveness etc. I support your raising it with Tesco.

Cheers Marine - but I honestly haven't read any posts on here that I thought 'uhoh loony' about - still maybe I am interpreting things differently.

ok maybe thisisyeserday took the subversive route but unless you actually were involved in the designing of this actual nappy it is all conjecture anyway(some more informed obviously)

I don't think that it was intentional in any way - but I still think that it's worth pointing it out to Tescos. We are in a formula-fed-baby culture and it is taking a long long time to get ourselves out of that culture. There will always be babies who are formula fed, and it's quite right that there are milks freely available to feed them. But we need to make it normal to breastfeed, and that's just not the case. Normal is instead the constant association of "baby" and "bottle" - on adverts, packaging, television programmes, cards, even the Mumsnet logo!

I find it quite depressing that breastfeeding was nearly wiped out in our society so easily, and that it is seemingly so difficult to claw it back.

Yes it's odd that the MN logo hasn't been changed in view of the strong feeling about this, which have been aired for ages. Could change the bottle to a toddler sippy cup or lego spaceship

Who cares what picture is on a packet of nappies. It is of no importance whatsoever.

So are we saying that a picture of a bottle indicates a ''normal'' way of feeding a baby, and that anything else is by default ''abnormal''? Surely people understand that there is more than one way to do things, but you can't put pictures of every single possibility on packaging...that would probably render them the most expensive nappies on the planet!

Sorry, I just don't get the level of annoyance about this.

Cheers for clearing that up dollshouse I'll get me coat then shall I -

Glad to be of service.

I think the solution here is too take any reference to feeding off the pack for newborns. Not to have all options pictured. It should be stated again that the guidelines require that formula should not be marketed fir babies under 6 months.

The status of breastfeeding in the uk is an important issue for many people - this packaging thing is a minor issue that has sparked a bit of debate.

Oh ffs. I don't know, some people just love a good moan. I buy, tesco size 2 nappies, there are 2 packs in my cupboard now, and i have never even noticed the picture.
I take it the cards i received when my dd was born, with a big pink bottle on the front, were also pushing formula feeding?

Bottle feeding isn't offensive. People feed their own how it suits them. I am sitting with a 3mo on my knee, a bf 3mo, wearing tescos size 2 nappies. Can you believe it? Don't people on benefits generally bf? FF is expensive. I work and probably would miss the money spent on formula.

I buy tescos because Pampers don't hold much and i go through loads of them, Huggies made my ds bottom rashy so i never bought for my dd. Personally i think lidl toujours nappies are even better.

It's not about 'pushing' ff, prammymammy.

It's not about ff being 'offensive'.

Please read the thread.

The fact you didn't even notice shows the point about the continuous iconography of bottle feeding.

People really do not feed 'how it suits them' - how can you read mumsnet and still think that? Most people start breastfeeding - and 9 out of 10 of them who stop before their baby is aged six weeks did so before they wanted to. Many, many women are conflicted about feeding - they may want to consider bf, but their families and friends and everything they see about them makes weird and abnormal...so they ff, or only bf a short time.

This is not a picture of relaxed, happy 'doing what suits them' feeding.

People on benefits mostly ff - it's to do with the socio-economic profile of infant feeding.

ot course tescos want to promote formula feeding, it's big profits for them.
this is a well thoughtout, go at normalising bottle feeding.

hates tescos more each day tb