Formula milk brands marketing on Chinese social media Weibo - a content analysis.
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ABSTRACT: Background
Parents' feeding practices in the first 2 years of life have profound effects on children's survival, health and development throughout their lives. Decisions on how to feed infants and young children should be based on the best information and evidence, not influenced by commercial interests. China is the largest and fastest-growing market for formula milk products. Social media has emerged as a distinctive marketing avenue that can reach consumers directly. Weibo is one of the most popular Chinese social media platforms. This study examined four of the most popular milk formula brands' official Weibo accounts: Biotime, Mead Johnson, YiLi-Prokido, and Friso.Question
What messages posted and what marketing practices and tactics are used by formula milk brands on Weibo.Methods
We manually downloaded all posts in the four accounts between 1 January and 31 December 2018. Based on previous studies, we developed a marketing practices coding framework and selected ten mutually exclusive categories for coding and analysing the posts.Findings
Among 2667 original posts analysed, 65% were from three dominant categories: user engagement (939/2667, 35.2%), parenting advice (516/2667, 19.3%), and celebrity endorsement (327/2667, 12.3%). Other categories included making pseudo-health or nutrition claims and portraying breastfeeding as a painful or problematic experience.Conclusion
Widespread marketing practices and tactics were found in the four examined Weibo accounts of formula milk brands. Monitoring and regulation of formula milk marketing on social media are urgently needed. Social media platforms should also be held accountable for protecting a supportive breastfeeding environment.
SUBMITTER: Zhao J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9926389 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan-Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Formula milk brands marketing on Chinese social media Weibo - a content analysis.
Zhao Jing J Freeman Becky B Guo Ruihua R Li Mu M
Digital health 20230101
<h4>Background</h4>Parents' feeding practices in the first 2 years of life have profound effects on children's survival, health and development throughout their lives. Decisions on how to feed infants and young children should be based on the best information and evidence, not influenced by commercial interests. China is the largest and fastest-growing market for formula milk products. Social media has emerged as a distinctive marketing avenue that can reach consumers directly. Weibo is one of t ...[more]
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