Health & Society Division, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Int Breastfeed J. 2023 Mar 16;18(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s13006-023-00555-3.
Globally, there has been a decline in breastfeeding rates. This has resulted in increased infant mortality due to infectious diseases and inappropriate feeding practices. The aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) by manufacturers has contributed, in part, to these declines. With the progressive use of social media, marketing has shifted from traditional methods to the use of influencers, who command a huge following on their social media accounts and influence the daily decisions of their followers. This study investigates the infant feeding methods and associated products promoted by South African influencers in relation to crying and sleeping and their followers' responses.
This was a retrospective study, which used a mixed methods digital ethnographic approach to analyse posts related to infant feeding methods that were made by seven South African Instagram influencers between the period of January 2018 to December 2020. Framing analysis was used to analyse qualitative data and quantitative data were analysed descriptively.
From the 62 posts that were analysed, 27 were sponsored advertisements (some violating local regulations) and 35 posts promoted breastfeeding. The 18,333 follower comments and 918,299 likes in response to the posts were also analysed. We found that influencers presented BMS products as a solution for a child who cries a lot and has trouble sleeping. BMS were framed as helpful for children who are seemingly always hungry and dissatisfied with breastmilk alone. The study also found that some influencers promoted breastfeeding on their Instagram pages. Unlike BMS posts, breastfeeding posts were not sponsored. With a few exceptions, followers tended to support and reinforce the framing of influencers.
Stiffer regulations should be enforced against companies using influencers to promote infant formula and other BMS products, with proactive monitoring of social media. Professionals giving advice contrary to the guidelines from the WHO should be reported according to Regulation 991 and made accountable. Proactive engagement with Instagram influencers to promote breastfeeding should be considered.
全球母乳喂养率呈下降趋势。这导致传染病和不当喂养方式导致的婴儿死亡率上升。制造商对母乳代用品（BMS）的积极营销在一定程度上导致了这种下降。随着社交媒体的逐步使用，营销已从传统方式转变为使用有影响力的人，他们在自己的社交媒体账户上拥有庞大的粉丝群，并影响其粉丝的日常决策。本研究调查了南非影响者宣传的与婴儿哭泣和睡眠相关的喂养方法及其追随者的反应。
这是一项回顾性研究，使用混合方法数字民族志方法分析了 2018 年 1 月至 2020 年 12 月期间七位南非 Instagram 影响者发布的与婴儿喂养方法相关的帖子。使用框架分析来分析定性数据，使用描述性统计方法来分析定量数据。
在分析的 62 篇帖子中，有 27 篇是赞助广告（其中一些违反了当地规定），35 篇帖子宣传母乳喂养。还分析了对这些帖子的 18,333 条评论和 918,299 个赞。我们发现，影响者将 BMS 产品作为解决经常哭闹和睡眠困难的孩子的方法。BMS 被框定为有助于那些似乎总是饥饿且对仅母乳喂养不满意的孩子。研究还发现，一些影响者在他们的 Instagram 页面上宣传母乳喂养。与 BMS 帖子不同，母乳喂养帖子没有赞助。除了少数例外，追随者往往会支持和强化影响者的框架。
应加强对使用影响者宣传婴儿配方奶粉和其他 BMS 产品的公司的监管，对社交媒体进行主动监测。应根据第 991 条报告和追究违反世卫组织指南提供建议的专业人员的责任。应考虑与 Instagram 影响者积极合作，以促进母乳喂养。
