Spread the Word




Infant Formula Marketing Campaign Materials


Get Involved: Resources for Activists

Keep Infant Formula Marketing Out of Healthcare Facilities

Sign Public Citizen’s petition, calling on the three major formula companies to stop marketing infant formula to new mothers in hospitals.

Read the letter calling on hospital executives to end formula marketing in their facilities.

 Photograph of a woman breastfeeding: Flickr photo by Jean et Melo

Healthcare facilities shouldn’t market any commercial products. They should provide only the best, evidence-based medical care. Yet, many facilities and healthcare providers are co-opted by infant formula companies to market their products: in the United States, the vast majority of birthing hospitals dispense industry-sponsored samples of formula to new mothers after they give birth. Mothers who receive formula samples in hospital are less likely to breastfeed exclusively and more likely to breastfeed for shorter durations. Yet, all major healthcare provider organizations recommend breastfeeding for at least the first six months of life. It’s best for babies, mothers and communities.

Public Citizen is fighting to keep hospital obstetrics wards commercial-free: no more marketing of potentially harmful products to new moms. Along with over 100 other organizations, we are calling on the over two-thirds of hospitals in the United States that distribute industry-sponsored formula samples to new moms to immediately stop this practice. And, we’re demanding that formula companies — primarily Big Pharma and Big Food corporations — stop this practice, which violates the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

See which hospitals received the letter.

Are you a healthcare provider? Take the pledge to keep formula marketing out of your office.

Learn more about infant formula marketing in clinics.

New! Watch the Video: Learn More About Infant Formula Marketing



Share the video

Copyright © 2013 Public Citizen. All rights reserved. This Web site is shared by Public Citizen Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation.
  Learn More about the distinction between these two components of Public Citizen.


Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation

 

Together, two separate corporate entities called Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation, Inc., form Public Citizen. Both entities are part of the same overall organization, and this Web site refers to the two organizations collectively as Public Citizen.

Although the work of the two components overlaps, some activities are done by one component and not the other. The primary distinction is with respect to lobbying activity. Public Citizen, Inc., an IRS § 501(c)(4) entity, lobbies Congress to advance Public Citizen’s mission of protecting public health and safety, advancing government transparency, and urging corporate accountability. Public Citizen Foundation, however, is an IRS § 501(c)(3) organization. Accordingly, its ability to engage in lobbying is limited by federal law, but it may receive donations that are tax-deductible by the contributor. Public Citizen Inc. does most of the lobbying activity discussed on the Public Citizen Web site. Public Citizen Foundation performs most of the litigation and education activities discussed on the Web site.

You may make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., Public Citizen Foundation, or both. Contributions to both organizations are used to support our public interest work. However, each Public Citizen component will use only the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the activities it conducts as part of Public Citizen’s mission. Only gifts to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Individuals who want to join Public Citizen should make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., which will not be tax deductible.

 

To become a member of Public Citizen, click here.
To become a member and make an additional tax-deductible donation to Public Citizen Foundation, click here.