YOU'RE BEING FRAMED BY FORMULA COMPANIES by Ruby Toledo
Think of a frame. Inside this frame is a picture of yourself and each of the four borders framing your face is the ideas, beliefs, morals and attitudes that have been influencing you your entire life. Covering this picture is a square piece of glass. Combined together this picture, square glass and frame make up the beautiful portrait of you. What if you suddenly realized that it wasn’t a portrait at all? That you were living sheltered under another’s glass - that in every essence of the phrase: You’d been framed. Your emotions were a combination of all the images you had seen all the influences positive and negative that you had been subjected too. Your morals were only borrowed beliefs from past generations mixed with present experiences. Your concepts were plastered and shaped so tightly inside of your mind, formed by the perspectives of others that there was only one way to break free, only one way for you to see beyond your frame; to shatter the glass and re-frame. “Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world” according to George Lakoff one of the world’s best known linguists “when you hear a word it’s frames (or collection of frames) is activated in your brain” (XV). So it is true you have been framed your entire life we all have. The way that we feel about certain issues and topics causes us to react a certain way, our minds have formed concepts sometimes so deeply that we are angry or overly emotional to the point that we cannot discuss the issue. We can’t break free of our frames even long enough to listen to someone else’s point of view. An example of our minds using conceptual framing negatively can be illustrated with this example: every day you call your sister "J-LO" as you get ready for school in the morning. Why? To annoy her, you know that she is self-conscious. You (as any normal sibling does) like to tease her. When she hears "J-LO" every morning, shouted in her direction she knows you are saying she has a big bottom, attempting and succeeding in your goal of upsetting her. Simple teasing has set up her frame for "J-LO" as a negative and causing an instant reaction. A positive use of conceptual framing would be telling Aunt Kate that she looks skinny; we all know that Aunt Kate had liposuction a few years back and that even though she looks great, she still thinks of herself as obese. We reassure her daily that she looks thin because Aunt Kate frame for “thin” is a positive attractive person; everything she wants to be, by using her frame it makes her self-esteem sky-high. Frames are used in simple situations like this daily and you may wonder exactly what is the big hype over frames? But when we think of the bigger picture we may realize that like a light bouncing off the glass and into our eyes our frames are blinding us. They are causing us to find controversy in issues and are not allowing us to see the truth or to think outside our personal frames, they won’t let us break free. One of the more important issues that have been forever influenced by the frames of society is the decision of how we will feed our infants. How do common conceptual frames influence the way we as an American society choose to feed our newborn babies, what are the reasons for and reactions to these frames? This is an important issue that affects every single one of us, the controversy of breast vs. bottle. When we hear the term’s breastfeeding and formula feeding our frames form a picture immediately. Most people believe that one way is the better. Some believe that there is no real difference between the two options. Someone may feel so strongly against one choice or the other that they begin to get angry at the slightest mention of either. This is an example of our frames in action. We all have our own beliefs on the topic of infant feeding. Some people think it's easy to breastfeed and some people think it's easy to formula feed. A pro breastfeeding activist or "lactavist" may picture a formula feeding mother as someone that is lazy, that does not care about her child or that is looking for the easy way out when it comes to mothering. On the flip side a mother of a healthy formula fed infant may think that a breastfeeding mother is clingy, needy or insecure. The way that we see an issue, that gut reaction we have about a particular topic: is in our frames. We all want our children to grow up healthy there is no disputing this fact. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months of life and “firmly adheres to the position that breastfeeding ensures the best possible health as well as the best developmental and psychosocial outcomes for the infant”(PEDIATRICS). Yet many women in our country still do not follow this recommendation. Why is this happening, how have our frames become so deeply opposed to breastfeeding? Or more accurately how have we, as a nation, been framed to believe that a manufactured infant formula is superior to our own human milk? Is it that women have been suppressed for so long we now feel we are insufficient enough to feed our children naturally? Have we been convinced that a man-made formula mixed in a factory has surpassed the abilities that Mother Nature has provided us with from the beginning of time? We believe what has, been so commonly thrust at us by “the man,” that formula is better than a mother’s milk. This is proof that our conceptual frames are deeply influenced by the media. The media plays a major role not only in America but also worldwide in developing our frames concerning infant feeding. The conclusion to a study conducted in the UK tells us, “According to an analysis of 200 television and newspaper references, bottle feeding was associated with "ordinary" families, whereas breast-feeding was associated with middle class or celebrity women” (BBC News). This analysis proves that the media plays a universal role influencing our infant feeding frames. Images of bottles and of infant formula cans are everywhere we look anywhere that corporations can place them. Even our doctors who we depend upon to educate us have coupons for and samples of infant formula in their offices. It is a common frame that “doctor knows best” so when we see these coupons we feel “if our doctor recommends it; it must be true. Hospitals hand out free diaper bags complete with premixed bottles of formula (more coupons) and a gift for mom. Does this prove that a mother cannot provide the proper nourishment for her child without supplemental infant formula? No, it only demonstrates to us the certainty that doctors and health insurance companies are just as eager as the big formula corporations are to make a buck. Doctors hold frames concerning infant feeding that often are passed on to their patients. A doctor that firmly believes in modern science may believe deeply in the benefits formula, therefore influence families in their decision making process by using his own frames of “formula is the future” or maybe “formula works wonders.” Also doctors know that breastfeeding mothers need added support from the community to have success, possibly the doctor may feel that this support is unavailable and use his frames of “formula is easier” when counseling a mother. Lawrence states that during the 1920’s, “physicians seemed more secure when they could prescribe nutrition” (633). It seems that this frame has stayed with them over the years. At times a doctor is unable to hold back her frames. An example of this: Only hours after giving birth my sister’s midwife re-entered the room and at the sight of the formula bottle my newborn nephew was devouring said directly to my sister, “I thought you were going to breastfeed, what a bad mommy.” Her frames spoke loudly to the entire room. For a nation that is known Worldwide for the biggest and the best of everything, we are falling behind when it comes to health. “At least 58,800,000 million Americans (i.e. 1 person in 4) suffer from some form of heart disease” (Heart Disease Facts). Rates of Type two diabetes and childhood obesity are rising, and alcoholism is now a commonly known disease. Americans are ignoring the simplest things like eating healthy, sleeping for at least eight hours a night and exercising. So with that in mind it is easy to see how come we have ignored the recommendations of the top pediatricians in the world when it comes to feeding our children. We are constantly bullied by propaganda that makes us second-guess ourselves. Common advertising influences decisions that we would not have otherwise made by targeting our frames. The attitude that women are inferior constantly streams from advertisements and the media. Our frames of insecurity constantly haunt us. It might be a picture of a starved blonde actress on the cover of a magazine staring at us while we are trying to pay for our groceries that aggravates our frames. Maybe it is the commercials for make-up in the middle of our favorite television show or the anti-wrinkle creams ads we hear every morning on the radio during our commute to work that provoke them. It could be the plastic surgery posters pasted on the ceiling of our gynecologist office; or the subtle ads of infant formula seeping into our minds contacting our frames, reminding us that it is true, women are inadequate: A mother and her baby sit quietly rocking in a chair. Along comes father in his business suit, smiling wide holding an enormous can of Enfamil with DHA “Families Deserve the Best” flashes across the screen, and in tiny unreadable print the bottom of the screen it says: “Breast milk is best, consult your physician.” I only know that it says that because I recorded the commercial, played it back and squinting through a magnifying glass confirmed that indeed it says, “breast milk is best.” So why then do companies spend millions of dollars on commercials and producing infant formula? If they agree that the best milk is already available for free? because we will pay for it. Why is it that we are we willing to pay the requested hundreds of dollars a month to feed our children their current mixture of formula; Because our frames have told us that this is the right thing to do. We believe that scientists working in a lab have produced something supreme. Our frames tell us they must be brilliant to make this artificial milk because we have been frames to feel “less than adequate” to begin with. The first formula to be sold in the US was produced by a German chemist named Justus von Leibig it was a powdered mixture of wheat flour, cow’s milk, malt flower and potassium bicarbonate which was added to heated cow’s milk. This “Soluble Infant Food” sold for one dollar a bottle in 1896. It has been one hundred and thirty-seven years since formula companies have been influencing Americans through the media (Contemporary Pediatrics). A media frenzy occurred when they began to add extra iron to formula then again when companies began advertising DHA. We assume that this proves formula is superior or equal to human milk. Most of us do not have time to research the effects that added iron has on a newborn babies stomach, or what exactly DHA is and if it can be simulated in a lab, we just simply go with the concept: “believe the media”. We believe that formula is greater yet rarely do we hear anyone speak of formula being nutritious; it is more common that we hear negative concepts about breastfeeding or negative breastfeeding frames. We commonly hear that breastfeeding is too much work, that it is sexual or that your breasts will, “never be the same again.” We see bottles and our frames tell us that this is the way you are supposed to feed your baby. These negative frames cause us to assist the formula companies maintain their goal; make a profit at our expense. Negative breastfeeding frames become so widely used and accepted that many women do not even consider breastfeeding as an option. They cannot get past the frames that have formed in their minds; Breasts are sexual. Well, yes they are. This frame is reinforced over and over in our minds as young girls and carried through to womanhood. We constantly hear men say they like, "tits and ass", they stare at our breasts, grope us and offer unwanted attention. It’s not just men that are guilty of objectifying breasts, women are indeed guilty of showing off their cleavage and attempting to acquire the biggest breasts possible. When teenagers feel the need to get breast implants for their sixteenth birthday and their parents are willing to consent the breasts become more objectified. Our society readily puts down women who are flat-chested and praise women like Dolly Parton for – well you know why, her name brings up a universal frame: enormous breasts. It is fair to say that as a society we focus much on the breast as a sexual object. How then can a new mother get past that sexuality when they imagine a child sucking on their breast? The phrase sucking at the breast may bring up a whole set of frames. You may think of an infant receiving love, bonding with his mother, or you may think that it sounds disgusting. Another common frame associated with infant feeding is that giving the bottle is easier. A mother may picture a bottle as simple; you fill it up and go. Only later she may realize that she has to spend time sterilizing, washing and storing bottles, the bottle becomes another thing on her to-do list. Another mother’s frame for the bottle may be that it is convenient; she just pops it in her child’s mouth when he is hungry no exposing her breast, no having to be tied down. Many women associate breastfeeding with being tied down, modern mothers may see a frame in their mind of a worn-out housewife cooking dinner while her infant begs to be breastfed. This frame turns many women away from the decision to breastfeed because she feels that she will never get a break. This brings us to the conceptual frame that breastfeeding is gross. These frames start when we are young children, we see a child nursing at the breast, and are so sensitive about the private areas of our bodies that we automatically think; gross. What if we had seen babies breastfeeding regularly our entire lives and instead of bottles and formula the image that the media equated with an infant was a picture of a mothers breast? Then would we be able to get past the conceptual frame that breastfeeding is gross? Would we have had it in the first place? A mother also may feel embarrassed at the prospect of exposing her breast while feeding her child. Being taught to cover ourselves since birth, having to deal with unwanted comments toward our breasts from boys and men and the constant media produced images of sexuality how then can we be expected to feed a child in public with our breasts? For some this frame of embarrassment is so upsetting that they do not even think twice about breastfeeding. They never learn of the clothes designed especially for the purpose of privacy or realize that breast milk can be expressed into a bottle or cup if the mother chooses. This brings us to another negative frame associated with breastfeeding: the pump. The pump can look scary and has become a makeshift symbol for breastfeeding, this has occurred through the media's influence. The pump looks cold, hard and unforgiving, our frames tell us to stay away. We do not even stay long enough to learn that a pump is an optional part of breast-feeding not a necessary one. Combined with our deeply rooted frames that women are inferior the negative frames that are commonly associated with breastfeeding cause this issue to be forever debated. We are cycling these issues over and over the only escape is to re-frame our minds. Is this possible, re-framing? Can we undo years of thoughts manufacturing themselves as frames that have literally moved into our minds? Frames that have permanently set up camp with no plans to rebuild or sell, frames that will hold strongly to their deeds, can we truly begin thinking differently about these issues? So that it will be possible to look at the facts of an argument without getting stuck behind our personal frames. When we come to the important decision of whether we should breastfeed or formula feed our infant, it is almost certain that these frames will come into play. As long as we are aware of the idea of frames and understand their influence upon us, we will still be able to make a choice of our own. Being aware of our frames helps us to think more openly and expand our minds. When we do this we are more likely to look to the facts and rely on research and evidence, we can then adjust our frames in order to fit the reality of our decisions; not just rely on them to guide us through life. We can then shatter the glass, break free from influence and re-frame.
Works Cited
Lakoff, George . Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives. Paperback ed. : Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2004. "Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk." PEDIATRICS 2 Feb 2005. 15 Mar 2006 http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;115/2/496> "Media 'deters breast-feeding'." BBC News 10 Nov 2000. 15 Mar 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1015176.stm. “All you need to know about heart disease and strokes." Heart Disease Facts. AC. 14 Mar. 2006 http://www.annecollins.com/nutrition/heartacts.htm#Statistics %20of%20heart%20disease%20USA. Schumann, MD, Andrew . “A concise history of infant formula (twists and turns included)” Contemporary Pediatrics 1 Feb 2003. 13 Mar 2006 Lawrence, Ruth. Breastfeeding A guide for the Medial Proffesion. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby, 1994.
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