Toddler milk advertising in Australia: the infant formula ads we have when we don’t have infant formula ads

The Marketing in Australia of Infant Formula: Manufacturers’ and Importers’ Agreement (MAIF) prevents manufacturers and importers from advertising infant formula. However, toddler milks, which share brand identities with infant formula, are advertised freely; and recent research suggests consumers fail to distinguish between advertising for infant formula and for toddler milk. This study examined whether Australian parents recalled having seen advertisements for ‘formula’. Most respondents (66.8%) reported seeing an advertisement for infant formula, with those who had only seen non-retail advertising more than twice as likely to believe that they had seen such an advertisement as those who had only seen retail advertising. This suggests that toddler milk advertisements are functioning as defacto infant formula advertisements in Australia. Thus the MAIF is failing to achieve its stated purpose.