The WHO yet again disappoints by keeping vital information from a very vulnerable demographic — new moms.

Dear World Health Organization,

These last few months have revealed many problems with your policies and recommendations. Thousands of people around the world are mourning the deaths of their loved ones, which wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been parroting China’s shocking lies about the coronavirus. No official words of apology would ever make up for lost lives.

WHO lifestyle policy recommendations – such as the prohibition of the marketing of breast milk substitutes – are only adding to the mental and economic pressures with which new moms are grappling.

In your latest report, released together with UNICEF and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), you urge countries to ban the promotion of breast milk substitutes, including advertising and distribution of free samples.

While the WHO deserves praise for drawing attention to the important issue of breastfeeding, pressuring women to continue to breastfeed during the COVID-19 pandemic while at the same time denying them information on alternatives is outrageous.

In fact, new moms needed this information more than ever during the pandemic. With the WHO’s outstanding level of expertise, WHO experts must be aware that high levels of stress in breastfeeding moms can lead to a difficult let-down reflex and to a decrease in breast milk supply.

Women may also suffer from an underlying condition such as HIV, tuberculosis, and certain cancers that makes breastfeeding difficult or impossible.

Even healthy mothers, under the best of circumstances, have trouble breastfeeding. These moms too have felt extreme stress during the pandemic, making it, for some, nearly impossible.

Breastfeeding isn’t only about nutrition; it also helps establish a life-long connection between mother and child. A mothers’ mental health is projected on their children. What can an emotionally exhausted mother offer a baby other than her anxiety? Sometimes breastfeeding simply isn’t worth it and moms need alternatives.

Shaming these moms for choosing breast milk substitutes is disgraceful. Women who want to breastfeed should be free to do so. Women, who – for either medical or personal reasons – prefer or need breast milk substitutes, should be able to access information about those products and make an informed choice, without feeling shame.

The WHO needs to recognize that a women’s wellbeing matters as much as their baby’s.

The WHO might have the noblest of motives, but moms need information more than unwelcome advice. Denying new moms information about breast milk substitutes leaves them vulnerable to unreliable—even dangerous—information and may even lead some to purchase products on the unregulated black market.

The damage from coronavirus is impossible to reverse, but the WHO can help alleviate some of the suffering by ensuring mothers – and all consumers — have the information necessary to choose products that are best for themselves and their babies.

Originally published here.

The Consumer Choice Center is the consumer advocacy group supporting lifestyle freedom, innovation, privacy, science, and consumer choice. The main policy areas we focus on are digital, mobility, lifestyle & consumer goods, and health & science.

The CCC represents consumers in over 100 countries across the globe. We closely monitor regulatory trends in Ottawa, Washington, Brussels, Geneva and other hotspots of regulation and inform and activate consumers to fight for #ConsumerChoice. Learn more at consumerchoicecenter.org

It’s been almost three months since most of the world went on complete or partial lockdown. The economic consequences of the pandemic have been devastating, with millions of people losing jobs, individuals losing livelihoods, and businesses going bankrupt.

The good news is that the digitalisation of our societies, and in particular e-commerce has mitigated the damage. We might be going through a plague of epic proportions, but at least we have virtual brands.

At a time when better, less expensive products and services are just a click or two away, the conventional wisdom might be that brands are less important than they once were. But that misses the point. Virtual brands now play a key role in our COVID-19 world, and we should embrace brand freedom more as we slowly get back on track.

Unfortunately, branding and marketing often come under fire as policymakers intervene to limit their impact on the consumer decision-making process. In other words, they are blamed for nudging consumers and tricking them into buying something they wouldn’t want otherwise.

Such an approach begs the question: can we claim that consumers who have access to information about products through branding and marketing — as long as companies are honest — are making irresponsible buying choices? No, and claiming otherwise is mere paternalism.

Governments that trample on brand freedom put not only industries at risk but also consumers. In the past months in which all retail shops have been closed almost everywhere in Europe, consumers have greatly enjoyed the variety of virtual brands. Trust is a crucial part of that relationship.

In the midst of quarantines, European consumers have been using e-commerce channels and other platforms to buy goods and products without needing to interact or inspect with them in real life. The decisions are then solely based on trust for the platform and the brand.

The trust component is paramount, and every time governments intervene, they undermine it. Companies’ reputation is also at risk: it is in their best interest to provide consumers with complete information about their products to avoid customer dissatisfaction, bad reputations, and potential lawsuits.

Digitalisation has reinforced this notion thanks to fast access to peer reviews and social media. It has become fairly easy to compromise the reputation of some brands and expand that of others. Brands are therefore incentivised to be transparent.

Brands and marketing also help distribute information about the products, and more of it is always better. Among other things, more information helps reduce search costs.

Rather than spending more time and effort research and looking for products and all the details, brands help convey the information consumers needs. If there were no brands, we would be spending hours trying to figure out what we are offered, and what the best choices are. In our fast developing world, this opportunity cost is very high.

Our road to economic recovery in the EU will be painful and long. The stakes are high, and we should get it right if we want to restore the prosperity of every individual in Europe. While it might be tempting to impose more market regulations to help the economy get back on its feet, this isn’t always the best solution for consumers.

Especially now, we need more brand freedom and we need to promote this idea at every level of our European institutions. If not, we will have less information and fewer choices. That’s no place to be in modern Europe.

Originally published here.

The Consumer Choice Center is the consumer advocacy group supporting lifestyle freedom, innovation, privacy, science, and consumer choice. The main policy areas we focus on are digital, mobility, lifestyle & consumer goods, and health & science.

The CCC represents consumers in over 100 countries across the globe. We closely monitor regulatory trends in Ottawa, Washington, Brussels, Geneva and other hotspots of regulation and inform and activate consumers to fight for #ConsumerChoice. Learn more at consumerchoicecenter.org

Global health advocates do not have their priorities straight, argues Bill Wirtz

With the recent news that has revealed the structural deficiencies of the World Health Organisation (WHO), one would believe the UN’s global health body would be interested in laying low on other issues that would make it unpopular. However, in some strange death wish, the WHO can’t help itself in getting back to what it wants to do most: regulate your consumer behaviour.

In a recent recommendation, the WHO called upon governments around the world to restrict the consumption of alcohol as it can lead to a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Europe marks the particular focus of the organisation, which considers that new restrictions during the lockdown are a prerequisite for public health. But the evidence that the experts could base themselves on is flimsy at best, as our knowledge of coronavirus is overall complicated, with control groups unlikely to be large, and none of the studies being peer-reviewed.

Other than that, the WHO conflates alcohol use immediately with alcohol abuse. Yes, in countries such as the United States, alcohol sales increased by 55% over a one-week span last month, according to market research firm Nielsen. However, this number is equally likely to be related to the wave of panic-buying consumers, and the fact responsible consumers are stocking up on wine or beer for their lunches and dinners. The overwhelming majority of consumers has an adult sense of how to handle booze, and the suggestion that they are in dire need of regulation is purely paternalistic.

In “The Case for Defunding the WHO” in July 2018, I argued on this very platform that the spending of this body is wasteful and their priorities are misplaced. The WHO has a history of coddling dictators: Director-General Tedros Adhanom was quick to name Zimbabwe’s long-time dictator Robert Mugabe a “Goodwill Ambassador” of WHO. Be it Turkey, which has heavily restricted the sale and advertising of alcohol, or Iran, where the sale of alcohol is completely illegal, the UN health body seems to take its policy clues from the most religiously inspired prohibitionists on the planet.

In a 2017 document, the WHO lauds a myriad of additional alcohol labelling examples.

While the world is battling the coronavirus crisis, the European Alcohol Policy Alliance (EUROCARE) is going after sports alcohol sponsorship in Scotland. In the press release from EUROCARE, the group says:

“Millions of people – including children and young people – are exposed to alcohol sponsorship. The evidence is clear that alcohol marketing exposure is a cause of binge drinking and drinking onset among young people. It also influences their attitudes and increases their likelihood of developing problems with alcohol later in life.”

Naturally, these activists are not referring to specific evidence that points to this phenomenon. With children at a young age picking up smoking, including cannabis – both not advertised in any way – points to the conclusion that sponsorship is hardly the origin of substance abuse.

In fact, when we look at this problem we quickly figure out that it is not sponsorship in sports, or sponsorship altogether that is the problem for these groups, but alcohol in itself. Kids have always been drawn to risky products. But these groups are the new prohibitionists, unable to contain themselves until they have banned every last drop of fun.

Ultimately, what sponsorship cannot be seen by children? Be it advertisement in public transport or bus stops, or any TV channel or radio show: children can technically hear and see all advertising that adults have access to. The channels that are children-only already don’t feature these ads and online portals such as YouTube allow for parental control that blocks all age-inappropriate pop-ups.

We should also stress that it should first and foremost be the obligations of parents to protect their children from harm, by educating them about appropriate and safe alcohol use. Delegating this responsibility to government agencies will culminate in an avalanche of bureaucracy that is not in the interest of consumer choice.

Banning ads in the name of protecting children is a backdoor to blatant bans on advertising for products altogether. Other vices are also at risk, as the press release also reveals:

“This research comes at a time when the place of gambling in sport has been called into question and we need to consider the propriety of linking any addictive and health-harming product with sport.”

The reality is this: consumers want products, and they want to safely enjoy vices such as alcohol. We should aim for responsible and educated consumers, as opposed to blatant patronising bans. Substance abuse is a real problem, yet we need to recognise that there are underlying problems that explain it, going beyond mere sponsorship.

Whether or not alcohol is advertised has no impact on unemployment or any other personal hardship that leads to excesses in alcohol use. These problems need solving through different educational and social institutions, and most importantly through improved personal relationships. We as a society have a responsibility to our friends and family, more than any governmental institution may proclaim to own.

Advertising plays an important role for consumers: it informs them about new and better products and allows for competition. Advertising is the extended arm of consumer choice, and ought to be protected.

Originally published here.

The Consumer Choice Center is the consumer advocacy group supporting lifestyle freedom, innovation, privacy, science, and consumer choice. The main policy areas we focus on are digital, mobility, lifestyle & consumer goods, and health & science.

The CCC represents consumers in over 100 countries across the globe. We closely monitor regulatory trends in Ottawa, Washington, Brussels, Geneva and other hotspots of regulation and inform and activate consumers to fight for #ConsumerChoice. Learn more at consumerchoicecenter.org

Shifting consumer behavior is changing the world of advertising as we know it, says Bill Wirtz. 

We have come along way in the evolution of the advertising business. The Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters, while the Middle Ages made us transition to town criers and billboards. But even trademarks are much older than many would think – the first trademark dates back to 1300 BC in what is India today. Advertising is simultaneously a reflection of reality and a gross over-exaggeration of consumer expectation – they are flashy, they are gross, they feature musicians and actors. Some ads are so entertaining that viewers tune in to watch them, and they generate massive clicks on video platforms such as YouTube.

Terrestrial TV is a good example of how some service have only been ad-funded for a long time already. With the popping up of online advertising we’ve seen entire newspapers switch gear on their business models. The Guardian – which isn’t exactly the defender of modern capitalism – raises more money online than it does through print. No wonder – online advertising is better for advertisers and consumers. Targeted advertising tells the company that posts the ad if it is actually viewed and clicked on – something that you cannot guarantee in any way on TV or radio. On the video platform YouTube, the company says that you only pay for your ad if people choose to watch it:

“For example, when someone chooses to view your TrueView ad for at least 30 seconds or engages with your ad – like clicking on a call-to-action overlay, a card or a companion banner.”

This certainly applies to myself: as a craft beer enthusiast, Google and Facebook ads constantly tell me about the latest beer releases. Why should I be upset? I get to use a free online service, and in return I get informed about products I like? It would be strange to claim that this is somehow worse than the old days, when I’d be shown things I don’t actually buy, such as women’s hygiene products, or new car tyres.

There is also a common assumption that advertising is a form of brainwashing, constantly bombarding is with things we don’t want until we end up buying it. It poses the ancient old question: can you make someone buy something that they do not want? The American legal scholar Cass Sunstein, who was Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under the Obama administration published an essay entitled “Fifty Shades of Manipulation“, in which he labels conventional marketing as manipulation. He writes for instance: “It is important to acknowledge that in the commercial realm, manipulation is widespread; it is part of the basic enterprise.”

Yes, when companies advertise health benefits of their products that cannot be proven, then they are intentionally misleading their customers. However, this is miles away from advertising a product as being cool, refreshing, comfortable, or trendy. Are we to define the mere fact that a product is being described by the producer as “good”, as manipulation? Because by this same standard, I could feel equally manipulated by the fact that Sunstein calls a book he edited himself, “relevant” (which he did).

You couldn’t sell anyone a candle as a means of replacing electric bulbs, but you can advertise products in a positive fashion. Of course advertising works, otherwise there would be no point it. However, the assumption that it is bad having ad-based services, and online and offline users being exposed to them, that is retrograde thinking. Many careers, including those of free-lance journalists, have been made possible through modern advertising. Many consumers happier about having specific targeted ads online, as opposed to being bored by their TV.

Advertising is changing because we are changing as consumers.

Originally published here

The Latvian Health Ministry has proposed a ban on all alcohol advertising, including television, radio and online – a move the Consumer Choice Center has criticised.

he plans were included in the Latvian Health Ministry’s draft of its national health strategy, and included a proposal to limit the availability of alcohol at certain points of sale.

However, the Consumer Choice Center, which represents consumers in more than 100 countries and monitors regulatory trends, said the ministry was “going down the wrong path with this strategy”.

Bill Wirtz, senior policy analyst at the Consumer Choice Center, commented: “Alcohol is a legal product, therefore consumers should be allowed to be informed about it. The belief that a restriction of advertising reduces alcohol-related health concerns is antiquated.

“The ministry also believes it needs more monitoring of the illegal alcohol market in the country. But there is no need for long investigations: high alcohol taxes have created a fertile ground for this shadow economy.

“Talinn and Riga have recognised this fact by moving to reduce taxes on alcohol. This national health strategy of banning advertisement, however, goes down the way of Lithuanian alcohol policies, which get stricter by the year, without showing added benefits.

“Patronising consumers and educating them are two fundamentally different things. It appears the Latvian government does not yet know how to tell both apart.”

Read more here