Permalink False Advertising Used to Scare Parents
Had you heard about the recent lawsuit between Mead Johnson and PBM? Perhaps if you don't have an infant in your home right now it may have been off your grid. See, Mead Johnson produces baby formula, a well know brand, Enfamil LIPIL and PBM sued them for false advertising.
I formula fed Amber, and I did it by choice. I never felt guilty about it, and never felt I was doing either of us a disservice by choosing formula over breast feeding. Truth be told, I used the store-brand formula too! Gasp! However, that's what this lawsuit is all about.
PBM claimed that Mead Johnson's advertising suggested that store-brand infant formula doesn't provide the same nutrition as Mead Johnson's products.
In fact the only difference between store-brand and Mead Johnson's products is price (of course, Mead Johnson's costing more). PBM CEO Paul B. Manning assures parents "that PBM's formula products are as high quality and nutritious as Mead Johnson's."
But the nutritional supplements that Mead Johnson refers to as LIPIL and touts in ads offer the same pair of fats (DHA and ARA) PBM offers in its products. The exact same source of lipids, with the same exact levels from the same exact supplier.
Parents are already overwhelmed with choices for their newborns, especially first time parents, and the last thing they need is to have companies convince them their child's health is at risk if they use a different brand.
The choice is yours, name brand, store-brand, or breast. Certainly don't let anyone or any company make you feel that your child will not develop properly because you used a less expensive option or alternate option.
The information in this post as well as a gift card was supplied to me at no cost from Mom Select.
Reader Comments (4)
Thanks for writing this post. I knew there was some baby formula law suit going on but I didn't know what it was about. I don't have kids yet but I do hear scary stuff about what is and isn't good for children. There are so many conflicting messages out there that it's hard to know which one to trust. Things would be easier without the false advertising.
It is so hard to believe anything anymore. Such a shame like you said we have enough tough times deciding what is best for our children. Thnak-you for the wonderful post.
Actually, I hadn't heard about this lawsuit, but I can't say I'm surprised. Thank you for posting about it. I used formula with our first little one and have been mostly breastfeeding this time around. I 100% support individual moms (and dads) who make the decision to do what's best for their baby--bottle or breast. No one can know their situation and no one should hit them over the head that either "breast is best" or formula is best.
Thanks again!
Leigh
leigh_ramsey at hotmail dot com
This is a great post. It's a big win for the Store Brands! Those national brands are really trying to get their money, and they're making consumers pay a pretty hefty price. I'm not sure if you knew this, but this was actually the 3rd lawsuit between the same two companies, and each time, Mead Johnson lost! The first two, they settled out of court, and finally this last time, it went before a federal court, and wow what a decision it was!
It just makes me happier that I decided to feed my girls Parent's Choice. They got the right nutrition, and I was able to save that money for other things we needed!