WHO and Unicef expose unethical baby milk ads in South Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) have launched a Babies Before Bottom Lines manifesto and campaign to warn parents in South Africa against false and unethical baby milk advertising.

2 May 2025

The WHO and UNICEF South Africa have gone live with a powerful new manifesto, calling out unethical baby milk marketing practices in South Africa (Image supplied)

Predatory practices

The manifesto, posted online on Wednesday, 30 April, calls out “predatory and pervasive practices” and has been backed and shared by prominent parenting influencers around the country.

WHO and Unicef are jointly calling parents' and caregivers' attention to the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and its related information sources.

The code provides guidelines on stricter regulation of marketing of breastmilk substitutes, to curb harmful effects on babies’ short- and long-term health.

WHO’s country representative in South Africa, Shenaaz El-Halabi, says, “False, incomplete, misleading health and nutrition claims by formula companies should stop now.

"The WHO calls on formula milk companies to stop presenting incomplete scientific evidence and inferring unsupported health outcomes.”

Calling on local regulators to update Regulations

WHO and Unicef are specifically calling on local regulators to update Regulations relating to Foodstuffs for Infants and Young Children (aka R991) to include other advertising techniques and digital marketing practices that have become prevalent in the past few years since the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes of 1981 and local Regulation R991 of 2012 were drafted.

Some popular social media platforms, whose algorithms can target specific consumers with specific messages at specific times, were still in their infancy or did not yet exist in 2012.

Of particular concern is that parents are often targeted with information that blurs the lines between nutritional facts and promotional pseudo-science and emotional manipulation when they are at their most vulnerable.

The pseudo-scientific health claims made by formula companies discourage mothers from breastfeeding, which should always be a first choice, as breastmilk is the most complete and healthiest milk for babies.

In addition, widespread evidence exists that women have internalised doubts about the quality and quantity of their breastmilk, mirroring the themes and messaging of formula milk marketing campaigns.

Towards a pro-breastfeeding culture in South Africa

Association for Dietetics in South Africa 2 Aug 2022

In line with their multi-country study on the impacts of marketing breastmilk substitutes, WHO and Unicef warn that “inappropriate promotion of breastmilk substitutes negatively impacts breastfeeding practices, and that advertisers are promoting a false choice between formula feeding and breastfeeding, without offering informed choice to parents about the real differences between breastmilk and various brands of formula”.

Unicef South Africa Representative, Christine Muhigana, notes, “Government and civil society partners are to be commended for their efforts to address this concerning issue.

"Formula milk companies continue to actively target health professionals to convince them to prescribe formula.

"This Manifesto is part of a broader effort to address these unfair practices so that mothers and caregivers are fully aware of unethical marketing practices.”

The WHO) and the Unicef have launched Babies Before Bottom Lines manifesto to warn parents in South Africa against false and unethical baby milk advertising (Image supplied)

Brand extension

Cross promotion, also known as “brand extension”, is a marketing practice whereby one product is used to advertise another product by using similar branding, packaging and labelling (including but not limited to similar colours, design, font types, mascots and logos) has become a common practice by the bay formula companies.

Dr Laurence Grummer-Strawn, who leads WHO‘s work on infant and young child feeding, says all families need to be supported with evidence-based information so they can make the most appropriate and informed decision for feeding their babies.

"Those choices, however, should never be exploited for corporate profits. We are finding again and again, all around the world, that unethical corporate influence is imposed on caregivers through false advertising.

"Companies use digital marketing algorithms that exploit parents when they are most vulnerable.

"They capitalise on parents’ doubts and questions. For instance, we see advertisers directing fake science at caregivers in the middle of the night, when they or their babies are struggling, to falsely convince them that bottle-fed babies sleep better than breastfed babies.

"This is wrong and needs to stop,” says Grummer-Strawn.

WHO and Unicef said they have uncovered systematic and unethical marketing strategies by the $55bn infant formula industry, finding it uses the “infant formula industry uses pervasive, personalised and powerful methods to target parents when they are at their most vulnerable in the early days of their new babies life, and manipulate scientific claims to promote their products whilst undermining parents’ confidence".