Mexico's breastfeeding campaign draws flak
Does sex sell?
Well, not all the time.
Mexico City's new health campaign to encourage new mothers to breastfeed has caused a major uproar after the campaign posters featured sexy, topless celebrities.
The posters drew ire because health advocates felt that they were sexualising the issue at hand.
The posters also featured the Mexican slogan that translated to: "Don't turn your back on them; give them your breast".
One of the actresses who posed for the posters has asked not to be associated with the campaign. Camila Sodi (above), who claims she wasn't consulted on the final artwork, said: "I did not authorise anything, and I think it's in bad taste."
Mothers and women's groups accused the campaign of making mothers who don't breastfeed feel guilty.
Regina Tames, director of the Group for Informed Reproductive Choice only had choice words about the ads: "It's not only a very terrible campaign in terms of how it looks, but it's also the message that if you don't breastfeed, you are a bad mother and you are the one to blame."
A group of activists wrote this in a complaint to the Mexico's human rights commission: "(The campaign) condemns mothers, rather than informing them about breast feeding, and they reduce a social problem with multiple players... to one person: the mother."
But it appears that Mexico City's health department is doing some damage control.
An anonymous official at Mexico City's health department has acknowledged that the campaign's slogan will be changed and that its next phase may include more average, every day mothers.
Source: Mail Online, Time, Huffington Post
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