SECTION 11. Prohibition – No advertising, promotions, sponsorships, or marketing materials and activities for breastmilk substitutes intended for infants and young children up to twenty-four (24) months, shall be allowed, because they tend to convey or give subliminal messages or impressions that undermine breastmilk and breastfeeding or otherwise exaggerate breastmilk substitutes and/or replacements, as well as related products covered within the scope of this Code.
Section 12. Authority of the Inter-Agency Committee (lAC). – The Inter Agency Committee (lAC) shall review all advertising, promotion or other marketing materials, whether written, audio, visual, cinema, theater, audio-visual and electronics, including but not limited to mail, email, text messages, telephone calls and website advertising, and for communication and information dissemination in any form, for products within the scope of this Code.
The Committee shall develop/update substantive and procedural guidelines for reviewing advertising, promotional and marketing materials, including its screening when deemed appropriate. All such materials must have been approved and consented to in writing by the Committee before the Company’s first public or commercial exhibition.
All approved advertisement and/or promotional materials for milk supplements, complementary food, feeding bottles & teats and related products must bear the messages both in English and in Filipino.
The DOH based on the latest scientific information and products may modify the messages, provided that wide dissemination of the message to all concerned is ensured.
SECTION 13. “Total Effect”. -Promotion of products within the scope of this Code must be objective and should not equate or make the product appear to be as good or equal to breastmilk or breastfeeding in the advertising concept. It must not in any case undermine breastmilk or breastfeeding. The “total effect” should not directly or indirectly suggest that buying their product would produce better individuals, or resulting in greater love, intelligence, ability, harmony or in any manner bring better health to the baby or other such exaggerated and unsubstantiated claim.
SECTION 14. Prior Written Consent and Approval of Committee. – No advertising, promotion or other marketing materials whether written, audio, visual, audio-visual, and electronic for products within the scope of this Code, which are marketed as partial or total replacement of breastmilk, including bottle-fed complementary foods shall be printed, published, distributed, exhibited, and broadcasted or in any manner released to the public without the prior written consent and approval of the Committee. No blanket or general approval shall be allowed. Such written approval must be specific in product and time bound.
SECTION 15. Content of Materials. – The following shall not be included in advertising, promotional and marketing materials:
a. Texts, pictures, illustrations or information which discourage or tend to undermine the benefits or superiority of breastfeeding or which idealize the use of breastmilk substitutes and milk supplements. In this connection, no pictures of babies and children together with their mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, other relatives or caregivers (or yayas) shall be used in any advertisements for infant formula and breastmilk supplements;
b. The term “humanized”, “maternalized”, “close to mother’s milk” or similar words in describing breastmilk substitutes or milk supplements;
c. Pictures or texts that idealize the use of infant and milk formula.