Video Check

As a mom, I make it a choice to find out what my kids eat especially what's in their milk. Quite surprisingly when I learned about this commercial in TV on sugar levels of milk. Such a shocking and interesting revelation. I try to check the label every now and then.

Not all milks are made the same, some have more sugar than others. To find out how much sugar there is in your child's milk, check the carbohydrates content. Generally in milk, high carbohyrdates could mean high sugar. It pays to check the label.

On Child Intelligence and IQ Points

Can milk make my child intelligent? I believe it alone, cannot.

Intelligence is a combination of genes, proper nutrition and the environment (situations and encouragement from parents,school and others in the community experienced by the child).

I happen to chance upon an advertisement on + 7IQ points. It created interest in me. As a mom, I always wish for my child to be successful in life. I have always believed that high IQ Points is a nice to have. When I saw the advertisement on it, I started asking myself if it is a must have.

I inquired with a pediatrician what the +7IQ Points was all about. Doctor was accommodating enough and told me that the study mentioned on the possibility that your child may increase his IQ Points while drinking a specific formula milk fortified with DHA. What most failed to look and inquired at was the comparison of its control group (vs the group which drank the formula fortified with DHA). When I asked from what group was it compared to, what I understood from what has been explained was apparently the control group used was a milk not fortified with DHA. I think case will not be true here in the Philippines as most of the milk brands found in our country is already fortified with DHA.

DHA's best source would be breast milk and breast milk is free of charge. Even if milk products are highly competitive on each other with their product offerings and claims, I totally agree on the saying, "breast milk is still best for babies".

I cannot afford to pay a huge amount of money to buy a milk highly fortified with DHA but is substandard in terms of other nutrients important for a child's development. I hope milk companies would be more responsible in their advertising. As a mother, I fervently hope one day that one or all of them would have a genuine interest to help moms rather than to mislead them in their advertising claims.

Questions for Moms

Do you really know how much of the important nutrients your child gets from his milk?

Do you really know what's in your child's milk?

Do you know how much you are really paying for?

Do you check the label?

Some intriguing questions I've been meaning to ask all of my mommy friends.. Answers would most likely be a "yes" or "no" or "I think so". 

For moms, who answers either of the last 2, it's time to check the label!  

Newspaper Ad Erratum: The Enfa Equation

9+5x2-(7x2)=14 

Right???? Absolutely wrong!!! 

Whoever got the same answer as the above has long forgotten the MDAS Principle (Remember My Dear Aunt Sally or My Dear Ateneo Students? )

I was embarrassed for Enfakid's latest broadsheet campaign printed in Inquirer today. I now question their credibility regarding their product claim on nourishing the brain to pursue excellence.

Would they issue an erratum? I don't think so but I dare them to do so.

Will they cancel their other placements on this particular material? I hope so!

Whoever proposed the ad and approved of the ad need a major and immediate math remedial class. 

TV Experience: On Milk Commercials

With the current issue on the safety of milk products due to adulteration of melamine, I was relatively surprised that no milk company has assured consumers of their product's safety on television except for one milk company. My assumption is that they wanted to detach any association consumers may have on the issue that its sister company face in China. My two other assumptions would be that it is quite expensive to advertise on tv and brands confirmed safe by the local regulatory are responsible enough that they don't need to take advantage of the situation to the detriment of their competitors.

Amongst the all the milk commercials in the market, I was relatively intrigued and a little bit frustrated when I saw Lactum's recent advertisement on television. Sometimes I feel Lactum is reacting to their major competitor's efforts - primarily that of NIDO. 

NIDO launched in succession its t.v. commercial featuring celebrity endorsers starting about 3 years ago with Carmina, then Marjorie, and lastly with Ruffa. Lactum did not hesitate to follow suit with their celebrity campaign this year and got Carmina as well. Objective for this marketing move might be to insinuate to consumers that Lactum is a better brand than NIDO? I wonder if this is so or would it be otherwise. 

I guess NIDO grew tired a bit of featuring celebrity endorsers about late last year and featured non-celebrity moms one after the other. Lactum followed suit with a lot of celebrity (Jodie, Claudine and Carmina) and non-celebrity moms alike about early this year. Perhaps this enabled them to gain a quick win as I believe celebrity endorsement if used properly will do wonders for the product.

NIDO went back to celebrity moms this year featuring the megastar promoting NIDO FORTIFIED as her one milk for her kids. Lactum countered (again!) this proposition saying that there is no such thing as a one-sized milk that fits all your kids. I was relatively frustrated by this proposition and even questioned if there really is no such thing.  I remember in previous years, there were no 1+ 3+ or 6+ type of milks and parents were able to raise kids then with proper nutrition. Ask your parents, your boss or your president if they were given a milk brand with any + or number in linked to their name when they were young. I used to remember when we were still in our early elementary years, my siblings and I used to share one milk - we drank Magnolia Fresh Milk in the glass bottle and NIDO during our younger years. 

I don't mind various milk products trying to own a perception in the consumers' mind as it is a primary need to succeed in marketing. I hope though that they would stop focusing their efforts to degrade competition in order to succeed. 

I fervently wish someday that instead of countering each others efforts on various product proposition, milk companies will help each other out and start promoting milk drinking altogether in the country to help improve children's nutrition in the Philippines.