There are many reasons why women stop breastfeeding, choose not to or maybe both bottlefeed and breastfeed - the milk in the bottle could have been breast milk for all anyone watching the ad would know. How does an image of a baby's father feeding his child - using the only method he can - send an anti-breastfeeding message?
The ad was about smokefree homes not the pros and cons of breastfeeding. It was a message to fathers to care for their babies and showed a father doing just that. And as Weepu himself has said, how he raises his children is pretty much his business.
Whether his babies are breastfed or not is a decision for he and his partner to make, not La Leche or anyone else. Everyone knows breastfeeding is best. That doesn't mean everyone wants to do it; can do it or can do it for any length of time or that they should feel bullied or forced to do it.
The Health Sponsorship Council took the responsible step of seeking advice on the bottle feeding clip in its ad because it did not want to taint its message and it removed the clip on the advice it sought. That was the right thing to do in the council's opinion.
What's not right is that La Leche has unjustly vilified Weepu whose only crime was to offer his help in encouraging families to be smoke-free.
