New law focuses on more responsible baby food ads

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Advertisements targeting kids are omnipresent. TV stations air them on prime time and the print media carry them in glossy pages.

Many parents, especially those who are busy, accept anything claimed by the ads without much question. They rely on the commercials for information on what they think is best for their children.

A working mother with a seven-month-old boy, Eillen, chose her baby formula after reading an ad about the product in a women's magazine.

"The problem is, I don't have much time to check each product closely. So most of the time I buy things that are advertised. But for my baby, I'm careful. I read the ads carefully because I want the best for my baby," the 29-year-old woman said.

The use and targeting of children by advertisers is commonplace, despite objections from educators, child welfare organizations and psychologists. Critics say the tactic can have devastating effects on children's development.

But things are expected to change soon -- when government regulation No. 69/1999 on labeling and food advertising goes into effect this July. It was endorsed by then president B.J. Habibie last year.

Article 47 of the regulation bans ads which only feature children under five years old unless they are for food products for children under five. This article also bans the advertising of certain food products which contain high levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG), sugar, fat or carbohydrates that might hamper children's development.

This article also prohibits the airing or publication of food ads targeting infants up to a year old in the mass media. Such ads can only appear in certain medical journals. The content must be approved by the minister of health. The advertisements are required to inform readers that the product is not intended to replace breast milk.

"Food ads targeting babies in this subarticle relates to baby formula and excludes baby food," the Ministry of Health's Director General of Food and Drug Control Sampurno told The Jakarta Post.

He said the minister of health's approval of the food ads was necessary in selecting information on food products targeting children.

"Certain medical journals in the regulation are those published by reputable medical associations. We can't play around with the future of our children. This regulation will assure that only doctors, who know and understand the best food for our children, provide the right information, not lay people," Sampurno said.

"Babies need correct and balanced nutrition to grow and if the ads contain misleading information and the consumer believes it, it's dangerous. It's the consumers, and especially the babies, who will be disadvantaged."

The regulation is also expected to encourage breast-feeding, which is advised to be exclusively given until the baby reaches the age of four months.

Sampurno said breast-feeding was still not common practice here despite overwhelming evidence that human breast milk is superior to formulas. Some baby formula ads go as far as claiming that their products are "equal to breast milk", "best for babies up to six months" or "contain more complete nutritional value at an affordable price".

"It's ironic. In developed countries, many educated people breast-feed their babies, but here many educated people refuse to do it believing that baby formula is better. In fact, there's no baby formula that matches the quality of breast milk," he said.

Indonesia adopted an international code on the marketing of breast milk substitutes in 1981 in order to regulate the advertising and promotional techniques used to sell baby formula. And to support the code, the government also issued decrees, including the Ministry of Health's 1985 regulation on the sale of breast milk substitutes.

Unfortunately, rules are made to be broken. So far, no strict legal measures have been taken against the violators.

"We can't compromise anymore. This concerns our children ... This regulation is important to encourage breast-feeding," Sampurno said.

The new regulation carries a mandatory fine of up to Rp 50 million, withdrawal of products from the market and/or suspension of production. Violators might also lose their production licenses.

Welcome

The new regulation has been warmly welcomed by the Indonesian Association of Advertising Agencies and the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI).

The advertising association's chairman, RTS Masli, said the industry had code of ethics on children in advertising and its supervisory board also regularly met to discuss complaints about ads.

"In the meetings, we urge a revision or ban of bad ads. But we don't make our moves public, we do it in a low profile way," he said.

However, he admitted the association lacked power and could not take punitive action against recalcitrant members.

"All we can do is to ask them to make proper ads. But with the introduction of many laws ... the agencies cannot fool around any longer. If they remain stubborn they will put themselves in serious trouble," Masli said.

He referred to the Consumer Protection Law, which went into force on April 21. The new law, which also partly regulates advertising, imposes penalties of up to Rp 2 billion in fines or five years in jail.

Masli also urged members of the community and concerned non- governmental organizations (NGOs) to police the implementation of the regulation and the law.

YLKI chairwoman Indah Suksmaningsih has called on the public, including NGOs concerned with children, to make sure the new regulation is put into practice.

"We all should do the monitoring if we want the regulation to work. This is important for our children," she said.

She found that many ads targeting children violated the code of ethics. "These violations show a lack of concern for our children," she said.

For instance, in the business of marketing she discovered many multinational companies, which have to comply to international standards in their home countries, imposed double standard marketing strategies to compete with local competitors.

"The minister of health should impose stricter controls, especially in monitoring the marketing of baby formulas, since we are talking about infants who can't make their own choices," Indah said.