Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Violations of Vietnamese laws related to the online marketing of breastmilk substitutes: Detections using a virtual violations detector. |
| Authors: |
Backholer, Kathryn1, Nguyen, Linh2 ndlinh@fhi360.org, Vu, Duong2, Ching, Constance3, Baker, Phil4, Mathisen, Roger2 |
| Source: |
Maternal & Child Nutrition. Jan2025, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p1-8. 8p. |
| Subject Terms: |
*MARKETING laws, *INFANT formulas -- Law & legislation, *DIGITAL technology, *MEDICAL protocols, *CROSS-sectional method, *SOCIAL media, *WORLD Wide Web, *ELECTRONIC commerce, *RESEARCH funding, *ARTIFICIAL intelligence, *LEGAL status of sales personnel, *MARKETING, *DESCRIPTIVE statistics, *JURISPRUDENCE, *AUTOMATION, *MACHINE learning |
| Geographic Terms: |
VIETNAM |
| Abstract: |
Breastfeeding rates in Vietnam, and globally, remain suboptimal. A major contributor to this is the aggressive marketing of commercial milk formulas (CMF), mainly through online media. The Vietnamese Government has implemented legal measures to limit CMF marketing, but these have been difficult to enforce, because of complex online environments. We aimed to quantify the extent and nature of online violations and contradictions in various Vietnamese laws related CMF marketing over 12 months in 2022. Using a cross‐sectional study design, we used an artificial intelligence‐enabled virtual violations detector (VIVID) to monitor official websites and social media pages of 25 breastmilk substitute (BMS) merchandise and distributors, every day for 12 months in 2022. Data were summarised descriptively. We detected more than 3000 online advertisements that violated or contradicted the intent of Vietnamese laws, involving almost 7000 violations of various articles within these laws (average 9.5 violations per day). More than 700 detections were related to CMF products being registered as "supplementary foods" or similar, thereby circumventing Vietnamese CMF marketing laws, because they are not registered as "BMS products. We demonstrate the need to strengthen the design, monitoring and enforcement of existing Vietnamese laws to eliminate mothers" exposure to the exploitative digital marketing of CMF. By turning a highly resource‐intensive task into one that is, automated requiring substantially less resources, our study represents the most comprehensive in Vietnam and internationally on the extent and nature of the online marketing of BMS. VIVID can be applied worldwide to hold industry accountable for the inappropriate marketing of CMF. Key messages: We present the first ever artificial intelligence‐enabled system for improving the implementation of national laws related to the digital marketing of commercial milk formulas (CMF).Using Vietnam to apply the system, we detected more than 3000 online advertisements that violated or contradicted the intent of current Vietnamese laws over a 12‐month period.Our findings demonstrate the need to strengthen the design, monitoring and enforcement of existing Vietnamese laws to eliminate mothers' exposure to the exploitative digital marketing of CMF.These findings should be considered by the Vietnamese Government as they review Advertising and Food Safety Laws.The virtual violations detector can be applied worldwide to help governments hold the industry accountable for the inappropriate digital marketing of CMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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