Start Date: July 2019

ID #: CAS053

Organization: Public Health Advocacy Institute, Inc.

Project Lead: Cara Wilking, JD

See more related research

Share


Despite the evidence that breastfeeding is best for infants, expectant mothers and families with infants are bombarded with marketing for breast milk substitutes (BMS) in ever more intrusive ways via digital marketing techniques. The goal of this study is to conduct legal analysis and develop preliminary policy recommendations under United States law on the potential role of formal privacy regulation; private, contractual user agreements; and BMS industry self-regulation to protect consumers when they utilize social media platforms and otherwise generate personal data that can be harvested and sold to marketers for targeted BMS marketing. The policy analysis has three aims: Aim 1: Briefly summarize BMS marketing tactics and existing policies (or lack thereof) that have created the current BMS marketing environment; Aim 2: Conduct legal research and analysis to identify and describe policy approaches at the following levels: a) Formal privacy protections for expectant mothers under state or federal law to protect them from invasive BMS marketing; b) The potential use of contractual user agreements and company privacy policies to protect pregnancy-related data from being harvested and sold to marketers; and c) Voluntary industry action by the BMS industry akin to what the food industry has done for its marketing to children through the Children’s Advertising Review Unit and the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative; and Aim 3: Provide preliminary policy recommendations to address the issues identified.

Related Research

May 2026

A Pediatric Perspective on the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines

Clear, evidence-based guidance on what foods and beverages children and adolescents should consume—and in what amounts—is foundational for promoting healthy growth and preventing diet-related chronic disease across the life course. Yet many children and adolescents in the US continue to have diets of poor nutritional quality. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), issued every 5 More

April 2026

Policy Priorities and Research Needs for Advancing Healthy Eating: A 2026-2027 Research Agenda for U.S. Children and Adolescents

Given recent changes to nutrition policies and programs and the food environment landscape, the need for new evidence on how these changes impact nutrition, health, and food access is greater than ever. HER has also published a research agenda intended to provide a blueprint for immediate (i.e., 12-18 month) research needs to inform strategies to More

November 2025

Forecasting WIC funding needs: Supporting families, strengthening access

WIC serves more than 50% of all infants born in the U.S. The goal of this study is to build a forecasting model to estimate national WIC funding needs under various policy and economic conditions through fiscal year 2027. The model will also be designed to allow for updates to forecast funding needs for future More