Tesco Urged to Stop ‘Unethical’ In-Store Trial by Midwives
Midwives funded by Danone are under fire for offering infant feeding advice at Tesco
Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, Tesco, Danone, Midwives, Infant Feeding
Cheshunt: Tesco is facing some serious backlash over a trial involving midwives funded by Danone. These midwives are giving advice to parents about feeding their babies, and many people think it’s a bad idea.
The midwives are wearing branded uniforms and have been trained by Danone for this initiative at a Tesco store. But critics are saying this feels a lot like the old “milk nurses” scandal from the 1970s, where salespeople dressed as nurses to push formula milk on parents.
One midwife even quit the trial last month, saying she couldn’t be part of something she considered “unethical.” She told a journal that she didn’t want to be linked to formula companies that break important marketing codes.
She mentioned, “Women trust me because I am a midwife,” and that it’s not right to make Danone look good while they should be protecting and advocating for mothers.
The World Health Organization and Unicef have a code that says marketing people shouldn’t directly contact pregnant women or mothers of young kids. While UK law covers some of this, it doesn’t cover everything.
Danone UK & Ireland said they just want to provide “impartial, nutritional expertise” and that the branded uniforms aren’t mandatory. They claim they’re listening to feedback during this pilot.
They added that their program helps parents get easy access to good information about nutrition, especially during those crucial first 1,000 days of a child’s life.
A Tesco spokesperson said this trial was meant to give parents extra support through free advice. They plan to wrap up the pilot at the end of January and will consider customer feedback when deciding on future support.