Ground Breaking Breastfeeding Ad from Best for Babes! Why I love this!
July 1st, 2010 by Diane Sam
"The ad is so fantastic, so hip but informative, warm but also sassy & smart, LOVE IT! So proud to be involved with you guys"--actress Alysia Reiner
How exciting! A massive new ad campaign in mainstream media that not only promotes breastfeeding, but actually educates and inspires at the same time. I got an email from Bettina Forbes, a co-founder of BfB, (via Helen Anderson, of Milkies, a sponsor and another "mompreneur" friend of mine!) detailing a few things to love about this ad - and I 100% agree, so here they are!
- No scare tactics: There are no pregnant moms riding mechanical bulls or participating in log-rolling contests, unlike the US government's ad campaign, which was criticized for a whole lot of things, including succumbing to formula lobbyists and making moms feel guilty if they couldn't breastfeed. Breastfeeding rates actually went down after that campaign. (I guess Best for Babes didn't have $3 million to spend)!
- It has mass-market appeal, unlike the Ohio billboards that got flak for showing a black baby drooling breast milk that looked really unappealing.
- The ad urges all moms to find the right support, whether they breastfeed or not! THAT is truly a first. For once, someone is taking the pressure OFF moms and putting it on the "booby traps."
- Highlights donor milk. Most moms don't know that donor milk is the 2nd best choice to breastfeeding, and don't have access to it. (Milk Banks are grossly under-funded) Formula is 3rd.
- The ad raises awareness of the WHO-Code, which was designed to protect moms who WANT to nurse from being derailed by aggressive formula marketing (like doctors giving mom free cans, shown to decrease breastfeeding duration) but which NOBODY in the mainstream knows about. There is NOT ONE formula ad in the issue, unlike practically every high-circulation, mainstream pregnancy & parenting magazine and website, which we worked very hard to persuade Media Planet to uphold. All of the sponsors in our ad are WHO-CODE compliant, including Evenflo, the only WHO-Code compliant bottle maker (and parent company of stellar breast pump Ameda)--we think they deserve kudos for that!
- It's positive! Just like with parenting, we have to be careful not to only react to bad behavior but to recognize and reinforce good behavior. We need to create as much media attention and buzz for ads or marketing campaigns that get it right as we do for those that get it wrong.
The Best for Babes Foundation gets it right in so many ways. While we weren't able to sponsor this ad directly, we are a "Friends" level sponsor and will do more work with them in the future.
Good luck with this ad Best for Babes! We're with you all the way!
Now, if they only had a presence in Canada ...
What do you think of the ad?
Post filed under: Articles
Comments
Carrie said:
I love this ad - fun, informative, and not at all negative! Wow. I would love to see this out more - this is the first place I have seen it.
August 2nd, 2010 5:05am