Table 1.
Content of BMS website screenshots related to breastmilk/breast-feeding, infant formula feeding and additional messages that may discourage breast-feeding
| Company* | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n 678) | Enfamil (n 241) | Happy Baby (n 212) | Similac (n 96) | Gerber (n 95) | Earth’s Best (n 34) | |||||||
| Content of screenshots | # of screenshots | % of total | # of screenshots | % of company total | # of screenshots | % of company total | # of screenshots | % of company total | # of screenshots | % of company total | # of screenshots | % of company total |
| Total screenshots with mentions of breast-feeding/breastmilk | 303 | 45 | 76 | 32 | 130 | 61 | 24 | 25 | 53 | 56 | 20 | 59 |
| Total screenshots with mentions of infant formula feeding | 263 | 39 | 123 | 51 | 29 | 14 | 44 | 46 | 40 | 42 | 27 | 79 |
| Ratio of screenshots that mentioned breast-feeding v. infant formula feeding= | 1·15 | 0·62 | 4·48 | 0·55 | 1·33 | 0·74 | ||||||
| Claims promoting brand as superior | ||||||||||||
| – Brand is mentioned as superior, better, preferred, #1, #1 recommended by experts | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 26 |
| – Infant formula or brand discussed as closest to breastmilk | 33 | 5 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Additional messages that may discourage breast-feeding | ||||||||||||
| Images that support infant formula feeding or suggest ease of formula feeding or difficulty of breast-feeding | ||||||||||||
| – Bottle and/or nipple not being used for feeding | 32 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| – Baby feeding with both hands on the bottle | 21 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| – Mother breast-feeding with one hand on her breast | 28 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| – Mother breast-feeding with both hands on her breast | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Direct-to-consumer promotions | ||||||||||||
| – Coupons, discounts, rewards | 196 | 29 | 100 | 41 | 40 | 19 | 47 | 49 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| – Providing contact information for, or access to a health professional or consultant | 335 | 49 | 81 | 34 | 193 | 91 | 46 | 48 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 18 |
*
N = number of screenshots that mentioned breastmilk/breast-feeding, infant formula feeding and/or other relevant content on each company’s website. Screenshots may contain more than one type of content and multiple types of messages so numbers add up to more than 100 %.