Cancel the Nestle sponsored Mum and Child Forum happening this Saturday 14 August 2021 [1]. If YOU Magazine wants to help their readers and the country improve the health and nutrition of our ‘little ones’, you should focus on our broken food system that makes nutritious food unaffordable [2]. Instead, YOU Magazine plans to give Nestle a platform to push their ultra-processed, sugar added products [3]. YOU Magazine needs to put our children's nutrition and health before profit. We call on you to make your position clear on where your interests lie. Do they lie with the mothers and guardians who depend on you for honest information or with your sponsor Nestle, who is driven by profit?
[1] https://www.news24.com/you/partnercontent/attend-our-free-stokvel-mom-child-forum-event-20210802-2
[2] Household affordability index, Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, 28 July 2021
[3] Marais, N C, Christofides, N J, Erzse, A, & Hofman, K J. (2019). Evidence for high sugar content of baby foods in South Africa. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 109(5), 328-332. https://dx.doi.org/10.7196/samj.2019.v109i5.13314
Why is this important?
The majority of mothers and guardians in Mzansi are unable to afford nutritious food for their babies and children, let alone put food on the table [1]. On top of this, mothers and guardians are constantly bombarded by marketing by food companies to sell their ultra-processed products which are packed full of sugar.
Food companies like Nestle have undermined breastfeeding promotion in the past, so the Department of Health put in place regulations to limit how companies advertise and promote their products. These regulations were put in place to help protect mothers, guardians, babies and children from these companies. But Nestle’s latest marketing campaign violates these regulations meant to safeguard the nutrition and health of Mzansi’s children, at a time when three million children have been affected by hunger in recent months [2]. This is unacceptable. If we are going to start changing this situation, we must challenge companies who put their profits before people's health.
[1] Household affordability index, Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, 28 July 2021
[2] Food crisis: 2.5 million South Africans experience hunger ‘every day’, By Nic Spaull and Mark Tomlinson for Daily Maverick, 26 May 2021
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