Update: The National Trust is Still Advertising Infant Formula, But More Subtly
And they think you can catch toxoplasmosis through the air whilst breastfeeding near livestock?
--
I wrote about the National Trust’s decision to partner with HiPP Organic recently, and how problematic it is that they are advertising formula. There is now an update to the story. The Baby Feeding Law Group UK have also published a briefing about the partnership called ‘HiPP: why do they want to be your partner which outlines the issues very clearly.
To be clear this isn’t about families who use formula. Formula should exist. Used safely it should be available as an option to those who need it or choose it. The problem is with the marketing of baby food and adherence to the international health policy framework on breastmilk substitutes. A summary of the code is available from Unicef if you don’t know much about it.
HiPP Organic are still the “official baby and toddler partner” of the National Trust. However, the National Trust say they have:
“considered the criticism of the partnership…from those who are concerned about infant formula marketing.” (National Trust Twitter Account, 19 May 2021)
Below are the main three changes since the announcement of the partnership on 14 May 2021.
Unrelated to the partnership, I also found a Twitter conversation that makes me think the Trust needs to spend time considering how to be ‘breastfeeding friendly’ more widely. As they seem to believe there are imaginary risks of breastfeeding near livestock.
Change One — No Direct Link to the Baby Club
The National Trust has removed the mention of the ‘HiPP Baby Club’ from their website. It now links only to pages promoting: ‘Little HiPP Explorers’.
in future our partnership will promote Little HiPP Explorers, and not the HiPP Baby Club.‘ (National Trust Twitter Account, 19 May)
Little HiPP Explorers’ is a section of the HiPP Organic website with various suggestions for children’s activities, based on nature. For example, you can print out an activity sheet, or use your smartphone to get some scavenger hunt questions.
- ‘how many yellow things can you find?”
- “can you find a tree smaller than you?’
Sounds fun.
But:
- The children’s activities are all branded with HiPP Organic’s logo. It’s advertising the company and brand.
- The Little HiPP explorer web pages are part of the wider HiPP website with links to information about all their products and the Baby Club. It’s just a less direct link.
There are other ways that the National Trust could help ‘young families to enjoy nature’, it’s not as if the scavenger hunt or children’s activities suggestions are unique.
Change 2: Shared Values…?
- The National Trust has backed off from being ‘like-minded’, at least on Twitter.
We only ever work with like-minded brands that share our values and passions (National Trust twitter account, 14 May 2021)
They now say:
Like many charities, we work with companies that have similar customers and share some of our goals (National Trust twitter account, 19 May 2021)
Make of that what you will.
Change 3: HiPP Organic Baby Club
HiPP Organic has changed their sign up information for the HiPP baby club. Before you agreed to receive information about:
‘organic milks including infant formula’
Now its
‘information about our organic follow on and growing up milks’.
They have stressed they do not send information about infant milk for babies under 6 months old.
Presumably, this has been added for clarity, and it’s not a change of practice. It is explicitly illegal to advertise milk for babies under 6 months under UK law.
It’s not clear whether this is directly because of the National Trust, it could simply be because the publicity has drawn attention to it.
Whilst this clarifies the UK law aspect, advertising follow on milk still goes against the WHO Code on International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. It prohibits the marketing of any breastmilk substitutes for under 3s.
The National Trust previously assured concerned individuals that HiPP ‘markets its products responsibly and complies with all local, EU and WHO regulations.’ (National Trust Twitter 14 May). Their more recent statements don’t mention the code.
Are the National Trust really breastfeeding friendly?
The National Trust previously said they are breastfeeding friendly. The law requires them to be. However, being breastfeeding friendly is about more than just saying you are. One aspect is making breastfeeding women feel welcome to feed their babies at their properties.
I found an exchange on Twitter, which makes me question their commitment to this.
Someone on Twitter asked the National Trust why you couldn’t breastfeed on a farm at a particular property. She got the reply that there is a risk of “airborne diseases such as e-coli, salmonella and toxoplasmosis.”
Errr…. what?!
Those are not airborne diseases. I’m no medical expert, but I knew that and it’s easy to google to check if you are not sure. Also if you are unlucky enough to get any of these illnesses, the advice is to keep breastfeeding, because they aren’t transmitted through breastfeeding. I can’t find any guidance anywhere that suggests you shouldn’t breastfeed on a farm.
The only thing I can find that is vaguely relevant is that you should wash your hands after coming into contact with livestock, or animal poo. This could transmit some of these diseases, so it is advisable before touching other people in general.
I might have thought this is just a rogue social media employee for the Trust who doesn’t know what they are talking about. But I note that they have taken 5 days to respond on Twitter, which suggests whoever responded checked with someone?
I have no idea if this advice is common across other farms owned by the Trust, or if perhaps this is just a misunderstanding on one property. However, it is concerned, seeing as breastfeeding in public is protected by law.
What’s Next?
Hopefully, the National Trust will soon clarify they are wrong about airborne diseases. (I have looked and can’t find any evidence they have so far). If they are wrongly discouraging breastfeeding at one of their sites, I hope they will address this, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
As for the partnership, there’s no information in the public domain about how much it’s worth. It’s probably not that easy for the National Trust to just cancel whatever contract they have signed.
The National Trust had a partnership with Cadbury’s for thirteen years. Members of the Trust bought a motion against the partnership due to concerns about palm oil used in the chocolate and its contribution to climate change in 2019. That motion was defeated, but the National Trust chose to end the partnership a year later as part of “making chocolate less of a focus”. I wouldn’t be surprised if Members bring a motion about this partnership against HiPP Organic.
I don’t think this is the last update to the story.
