Jameel at the Muqata writes about the multi-level “pyramid” scheme used to market Agel, an overpriced and unproven vitamin supplement. The highest-level marketers have made a lot of money, but hundreds at the bottom will lose their investment unless they can convince enough others to invest and market as well. Most large “Anglo” communities in Israel have several Agel representatives. (Agel hasn’t discovered mine yet. Please stay away.)
My post on Green Prophet yesterday turned out different than expected:
Why Baby’s First Gift Shouldn’t Be Formula from the Hospital
By Hannah Katsman
Soft drinks. Fast foods. Cigarettes.
Companies that market these products are well-known for targeting children and teens in order to develop “brand loyalty.”
But the campaign to capture the taste buds of future consumers begins even earlier–in the hospital nursery, where formula companies use aggressive methods to ensure that babies’ first taste of artificial milk comes early and bears the name of their company.
They know that parents are most likely to continue feeding the brand served to babies in the hospital.
What’s the problem with formula, and why is this a “green” issue?
Ironically, early introduction of formula and a diet of “junk” food are both implicated in increasing the incidence of diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
Formula companies insist that they do not want to undermine breastfeeding–they merely want to compete for their share of the formula market for women who cannot or choose not to breastfeed. Sound familiar?
Cigarette companies have long claimed that they do not encourage smoking and only want current smokers to switch brands. Most governments reject this claim and severely restrict the way tobacco companies market their products.
Breastfeeding is an easy target. It’s free, already under attack, earns little profit for anyone and therefore has virtually no corporate funds backing it. But just one bottle of formula compromises a baby’s immune system and increases the risk of illness in the short and long term.
A bottle of formula implies that formula is endorsed by the hospital, and worse, sends the not-so-subtle message that the mother’s own milk is not good or plentiful enough. And just like it only takes a few cigarettes to become addicted, early introduction of formula can lower milk supply and is associated with early weaning.
Israel and the WHO Code
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the deleterious effects of formula marketing on the health of babies and mothers and developed the WHO Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes in 1974. The aim of the Code is to
Read more on Why Formula Marketing in Israeli Hospitals is Bad for Babies…
I figure the dress in this picture would fit in well in Bnei Brak:
But the advertisement appeared on the front page of Haaretz’s Gallery section.
Without sticking out your behind,
Without pulling in your stomach,
Without dressing short,
Without dressing tight,
Without a pushup, without stiletto [heels], without giggling, without winking, without veiled looks, without appearing hungry, without hiding intelligence.SEXY (Seksit)
Without operating instructions.
The copy is over the top, but it seems that religious women aren’t the only ones having a hard time finding clothes. Anyway that outfit sure beats these.
My philosophy is that the more kids you have, the less stuff you need. I avoid toys marketed as “educational” because I figure that as long as something occupies a child’s attention– blocks, a magnet and paper clip, a deck of cards or climbing up and down the steps– the child is developing a skill or learning about the world.
Still, I am materialistic enough to appreciate a new toy now and then. A few weeks ago I agreed to write a product review for Mom Central (they are the ones who sent me Crawling–if you like freebies go over there and sign up). The toy manufacturer, Cranium (pretentious I know), makes educational games and puzzles for the preschool set. I had just about given up on our package (it sat in Israeli customs office for two weeks) when we got the notice from the post office. My little girl was so excited she carried the 3lb box most of the way home. And we weren’t even charged customs tax.
“Let’s Go to the Zoo: Seek and Find Puzzle” turned out to meet my criteria for a good game.
To find out about life in the Haredi world, check out the pashkvilim (wall posters) in Jerusalem or Bnei Brak. There will be one protesting any trend potentially threatening to the haredi way of life. But if the religious Zionist community interests you, go to your local synagogue on Friday afternoon and pick up a few alonim (brochures). Shabbat be-Shabbato, produced by Machon Tzomet and the Histadrut Hapoel Hamizrachi (no time to explain why Israel needed a religious labor union), has been around since the early ’80s. Other early ones include Torah Tidbits, put out by the Orthodox Union’s Israel Center, and Chabad’s “Sichat Hashavua” (lit. weekly discussion).
In recent years the alonim have become an industry. Publishers recognize this successful, inexpensive way of marketing to a relatively affluent community. There are alonim geared toward children, women, Daf Hayomi students, and others. Most have have some kind of political or social agenda.
They all discuss the weekly Torah portion, usually in light of whatever agenda they are pushing, and contain columns on the topics of the day.
The onslaught of the alonim has caused several problems. First, people tend to read them in the middle of prayers or speeches. Second, most are chock full of ads, and reading the ads may not be permissible on the Sabbath. This issue, of course, is not new, as it applies to all newspapers.
The third, most serious, concern is that they cause headaches for the religious councils operating genizot. According to Jewish law, holy books and papers may not simply be thrown away; they are collected and buried in what is known as a genizah. The massive Cairo Genizah, discovered in an Egyptian synagogue, was the source of several centuries worth of historical documents which contributed greatly to our understanding of medieval Jewish life in Egypt.
A genizah was manageable in the days when books were scarce. Since we now print and photocopy freely, collecting the material and finding space in cemeteries for the genizot has become more challenging. The tens of thousands of copies of alonim, all of which have kedusha (holy status) and cannot be thrown away, have simply overrun the genizot. I read that up to 90% of the genizot now contain alonim. In our town, funding for genizot was cancelled and a sign requests a donation for depositing the material at a box near the local synagogue.
I confess that we contribute to the problem; my children come home each week with as many as a dozen alonim.
One of the biggest, running about 12 pages, is called Maayanei Hayeshua. Maayanei Hayeshua is an outreach organization based in Jerusalem. In it Rabbi Shlomo Aviner writes engagingly about many different topics including dating, serving in the army, and Torah study. The alon contains a section for women, often including an interview of a female personality from the community. One subject was a young and successful shadchanit, an expert at making matches. Others were the founder of Binyan Shalem, an organization devoted to strengthening the family in the religious Zionist community and Shoshana Hayman, founder of the Life Center promoting attachment parenting in Israel.
A relative newcomer, Argaman (royal purple), was obviously founded in order to target female consumers. Occasionally we also find Kolech (your feminine voice), produced by the forum for religious women, with its feminist agenda. Argaman is more mainstream. Besides Shoshana Hayman’s regular column, my favorite is called “Mother-in-Law’s Corner.” Initially it consisted of overheard diatribes by daughters-in-law about how their husband’s mothers favored their daughters over their daughters-in-law. For example: “When I was sick and needed a babysitter she was too busy, but when my sister-in-law wanted to go overseas my mother-in-law ran over with ready-made meals. When we visit, she gets the bigger room and we have to sleep in a hole.” It took a few weeks before I was certain that the author didn’t approve of this kind of carping.
I always wanted to ask whether these daughters-in-law noticed the same kind of treatment by their own mothers. Did it bother them if their mothers babysat more for their children than for their brothers’? I now like tease my kids about the unequal treatment my sons and daughters should expect a few years down the road, when God willing they will visit with their own families.
I also enjoy Olam Katan (small world), geared toward teenagers through young adults. I don’t think it’s published by any particular organization, but it has a clear right-wing ideological bent. It annoyed us a few weeks ago by publishing several articles extolling the virtues of religious zionist yeshivot ketanot, high schools with very limited secular studies (i.e. no bagrut/matriculation certificate). My husband thinks that some people in our community hope that the graduates of these institutions will be more likely to become gedolei hador, great rabbis of the next generation. He doesn’t think it will work. To be fair, that issue also contained an opinion stressing the importance of secular education for rabbis.
I thought that being a religious Zionist is more than just teaching our children to respect Zionism and the State of Israel. I thought it means raising them to be able to be part of both the secular world and the world of Torah, not to limit cross off many options at the age of 12 or 14 when they are too young to know where their interests and talents lie. I want my children to be able to contribute to Israel’s society and culture, and support their own families.
This post was inspired by an alon that collected several rabbinic opinions about the going on three weeks long high school teachers’ strike, but as you can see I got sidetracked. Let’s hope the strike ends before I get to post about it.
I just spent ten minutes explaining to my son that we are not interested in a children’s magazine despite all the stories, puzzles and games it contains. He was shown a copy in class, and brought home an envelope.
Direct marketing to first graders is assur (prohibited) in my book. I don’t care how good the magazine is (at only NIS 395/year). What chutzpah to distract my child from school with this kind of stuff.
The only Israeli formula company, M*, with the pseudo-scientific Latin sounding name, has been running a successful public relations campaign within the religious community in Israel for eight years now. They teamed up with a charity organization to collect used M* scoops and bags. For every four collected, the company will donate one new can to the organization.
Who can complain about a company that will give needy mothers free formula, in exchange for stuff that would go in the garbage anyway?
Well, I can.
The campaign is a blatant violation of the International WHO Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes, which Israel signed and is supposedly committed to upholding.
Let me start by saying that I support the right of every family to feed their babies as they choose. Babies should not starve, chas ve-shalom, because a mother chooses not to breastfeed. If a poor family needs formula for their baby, they should get it. Even affluent mothers have a hard time getting the information and support they need to breastfeed their babies; disadvantaged families have it worse, and their babies shouldn’t suffer.
But the manufacturer’s motives are far from pure here. What invest so much in a campaign that includes full-page ads in charedi newspapers, email blitzes, flyers passed out in schools (including my daughter’s junior high) and who knows where else? I don’t want to give them ideas but I bet they have youth groups collecting the scoops too. Here’s why they do it:
Haaretz reports on the latest marketing ploy directed at toddlers:
Marketing activities in preschools have now become regulated. Tadamm Focused Marketing recently received a concession to manage marketing and advertising campaigns in private preschools and day-care centers.
Here’s what will be happening:
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