Sign up for formula mailing lists!!

[rose angel]

OK this might sound crazy, but hear me out. If thousands of BF mammas requested to be on the mailing list of that formula Brooke Shields is pimping, it could make them lose a little money. Just fill out their little baby club application on the website and put the stuff in the garbage where it belongs when it arrives. When I had my first baby, they sent several full sized cans of formula, a teddy bear etc etc ad nauseum. I never sent it back, because I felt "Why not let them waste their ad money on someone who will never ever use their garbage?" With my second baby, I signed up on purpose to see what selling techniques they were using, and to make them waste more money. If you send it back, they take you off their mailing list and use that money to send stuff to someone else. I was thinking, if we could get lots of bf friendly people to sign up for the same formula's "club" we could cut into their bottom line a tiny bit, and vent my rage at these idiots.
What do you think? http://www.babyformula.com/consumer/brooke.asp
Karen
"It's the smartest choice for moms everywhere"
Brooke Shields on using Bright beginnings formula

[Greaseball]

That might work...but I also hear that every sample and coupon they give away just makes them raise their prices for moms who actually want to buy it. That way they never lose money, because some people are just so determined never to breastfeed that they will pay anything for the stuff.

Major formula companies like Enfamil already send moms cases of formula when they did not even sign up on the list - they get names from magazines, hospitals, catalogs, etc.

[Meiri]

If you must, if you're going to do this, at least donate the stuff and coupons to local food banks and homeless shelters for those who need it and for whom it's too late to consider nursing.

[elelvee]

I'd consider it a waste of trees.

A man was on TV who sends for junk mail, and he uses it as a free source of fuel. It would be better to heat the house with wood.

You don't want to encourage people to raise trees on farms, cut them down and mangle them into paper...that you don't want to keep.

[rose angel]

I would hesitate to donate this stuff, because of the DHA, and RHA in it that are causing so many problems for many babies. This stuff is not safe. Regular formula, I might donate. I could just see them good naturedly giving it to a mom with a new baby without asking if she were nursing. : I am just so angry about the Ad Counsel campaign being changed, possibly being pulled, breastfeeding rates are less now than a few years ago, and the HARD sell advertisments I have been seeing for formula lately, it makes me want to cry. Formula companies love money more than babies, so this is a way to hurt them where they will care the most, the almighty dollar.
Karen

[RidentMama]

Like Meiri, I believe that it would be better to donate the unused formula to those who may actually need it. We have a crisis nursery up here that I hear needs formula because some of the women were not able to nurse in a hostile home environment . All of the cases of formula I've received are going there. Formula doesn't stack up to breastmilk, but it does provide nourishment for babies who don't have any other option!

[julie128]

I sell my formula coupons on ebay. I get between 1/4 and 2/3 the value of the coupons. Samples, I donate to a food bank.

[shelbean91]

I do this all the time. Some of these companies think I have 6 children by now (I'm on my third pg) b/c I sign up every 9-10 months. I donate what I can.

I was very upset b/c I had donated about 15 cans 3 mos before ds was born- then we had so many nursing problems- he didn't nurse until he was 4 mos old (we were fingerfeeding).

To me, something worse than having to use the formula was actually having to pay for it. That stuff is expensive- and I was pumping enough that I only was going through a can a week- I can't imagine having to use it full time. I already have collected 3-4 cans for the new baby (just in case), and if we don't have the nursing issues, I will donate that as well.

[derivative]

Or we could all order the samples, and then forward them to brooke shields, since she obviously needs money pretty badly.

[Viola]

Originally posted by derivative
Or we could all order the samples, and then forward them to brooke shields, since she obviously needs money pretty badly.

:LOL

[hotmamacita]

When the twins were born, formula companies sent us CASES of formula and I gave them to other twin moms in financial need who were using formula.

[fyrflymommy]

ummm how do i get my name OFF their list???? they keep sending me mailings w/ my name spelled wrong! does enfamil have an email addy? i couldn't find a way to dis-enroll at the site and had no luck using the phone. could someone please give me their email address?

[angie6]

A friend of mine says that she uses the postage paid envelopes that are in alot of this junk mail and takes everything they send you , folds it up and returns it back to them in their postage paid envelopes. Maybe if enough of us did this they would get the hint and stop mailing it to us!
I too become very angry when I receive formula and formula coupons. I usually just pitch it all. I am torn between giving to another mom and wondering what harm that is doing to her baby and also feeling as if I am endorsing it's use by giving it to her and if it is a good idea to give it to a homeless shelter.
If the government would give women in homeless shelters and on welfare, etc quality pumps and give them incentives to nurse we may never have to deal with formula at all. Women should pull together and donate milk to milk banks and be able to help other moms that way rather then deal with the formula issue.
Just a thought.....
Angie

[Greaseball]

Yeah, forget marriage incentives...how about breastfeeding incentives?

[julie128]

Originally posted by fyrflymommy
ummm how do i get my name OFF their list???? they keep sending me mailings w/ my name spelled wrong! does enfamil have an email addy? i couldn't find a way to dis-enroll at the site and had no luck using the phone. could someone please give me their email address?

There is usually an address in the junk mail someplace that you can write to requesting removal of your address.

[MamaTT]

How 'bout the foster parents?

They are probably the ones who most need the formula. And they are never reimbursed enough for the cost.

A mama I know from another boards was actually trying to get together some for her parents, who often have infants in their care....

A worthy cause, IMO.

[Sustainer]

Hmm, I'm not sure it's such a good idea to make them think that more women want their products. It might encourage them.

[rareimer]

i agree with SBFMommy...i think if they see the demand increasing, it will only encourage more "free samples"...and more free samples encourages more mothers to supplement or quit breastfeeding in those early days.

[rose angel]

I disagree

For example, if many people signed up for their list, then donated all their coupons and formula, they might begin to wonder "hmmm, we are sending out more samples than ever, yet selling less formula (due to the donated formula and coupons) maybe this sample thing isn't working."
Karen

[Greaseball]

Or, you could donate formula to an adoptive mother who is trying to get lactation started by using the SNS. That way, the formula could go to helping a mom breastfeed! Then you could write the formula company a letter, explaining what you did with it, and they will be soooo mad knowing they are helping babies get good nutrition.