Analysis of advertisements of infant food commercialized in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Abstract

The advertising about maternal milk substitutes has been pointed as one of the factors responsible for the breastfeeding low rates. In this way, legal support was created to assure that the use of such products would not interfere on the healthy breastfeeding habit of the population. This study, developed between June 2006 and May 2008 in the city of Natal, state of Rio Grande do Norte, analyzed the food advertisements divulged under the validity of Law # 11.265/2006, which controls in Brazil the food commercialization and the publicity addressed to parents or keepers of nursling and children in the first childhood. 220 advertisements, being 141 of technical-scientific nature, and 79 for strictly commercial promotion, were collected and evaluated according to legal requirements. The results from this analysis showed that 100% of the advertisements of technical-scientific nature overstepped the clause V; 18.4% the clause IV and 14.2% the clauses I, II and III of article 19th of Law # 11265/2006. In 42% of the advertisements strictly for commercial promotion, the mandatory information mentioned at clauses I and II of the article 5th were not shown. In 8.7% of the advertisements containing such information, it was placed in an area that embarrassed its identification and reading, due to used fonts size and/or color; similarly as occurred with the information required by article 19th, in the advertisements of technical-scientific nature.