Once Nanny had succeeded in banning smoking, I knew that it would not be very long before she turned her attention to banning something else (eg fat, booze). Sure enough, she has fixated on something else that she feels should be banned.
However, I never thought that it would be baby milk formula.
A coalition of Nanny type charities is demanding (note; "demanding" was the word used by the BBC, so it must be true) baby milk be treated like tobacco and subjected to a total advertising ban.
Whenever I hear the word "demand" in a statement from Nanny or her acolytes, I instinctively reach for my sick bag.
How farking arrogant and simple minded of these people!
Who do they think they are to "demand" anything???
I have to say, what society or planet do they inhabit?
Does it not occur to them that we actually live in a "democracy" and free market economy. Unless a product/service is actually illegal (eg heroin) it is perfectly within the remit of the law and society's mores for companies to advertise a product/service in order to create a demand for that product/service.
It's called the free farking market, get used to it Nanny!
Anyhoo, Nanny's chums in The National Childbirth Trust (NCT), Save The Children and Unicef are blaming adverts (how convenient) for many mothers abandoning breast feeding before the recommended six months.
These charities, who reside in Lah Lah Land, want Nanny to extend a ban on infant milk adverts to include "follow-on" milks for older babies.
Companies are currently not allowed to advertise formula milk for babies under six months.
Needless to say this little outburst by these people will do nothing for the self esteem of mothers who move on to feeding their sprogs with a bottle. Many mothers already feel an immense sense of guilt and failure when they move on to the bottle. This is standard Nanny tactics, make people feel worthless and guilty about their lives; that way they are easier to manipulate and can be made to depend on Nanny.
The charities are trying to compare milk companies to fag companies; note the subtle Nazi style word association/word dropping that they use, "tobacco companies" "loopholes" "cigarette" "exploit" "aggressively", so that people subconsciously start to feel a sense of revulsion over milk formula companies.
Here is Belinda Phipps, of the NCT, doing her bit for the propaganda machine:
"
In similar ways to how tobacco companies found
their way through loopholes in legislation
restricting the advertising of cigarette promotion,
formula milk companies are finding ways to
exploit ambiguity in the law and to continue
aggressively marketing their products to parents."
Dr Ellie Lee of the University of Kent, who has actually bothered to do some research, said the impact of advertising on the decision to switch from breast to bottle was "negligible".
Dr Lee found that the decision to bottle feed was a "pragmatic decision based on personal circumstances".
"
Some do it because of the pain
of feeding or so they can feed their
child at more regular intervals,
some so they can share responsibility for
feeding the baby, others because they are
thinking of going back to work.
Many mothers feel an immense sense of guilt
and failure when they move on to the bottle,
and this latest debate about advertising
is likely to make them feel even worse."
In other words, it is a decision that is best left to the individual to make based on her own personal circumstances. The trouble is that "individual decision making", whereby people think and decide for themselves, is an anathema to Nanny.
