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Mexican Breastfeeding PSA Draws Backlash

Arash Zandi |
May 26, 2014 | 5:29 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

The posters also received criticism for featuring only light-skinned women. (via Twitter/@fredric_wertham)
The posters also received criticism for featuring only light-skinned women. (via Twitter/@fredric_wertham)
A breastfeeding PSA created by Mexico City’s health department has drawn criticism from women’s health advocacy groups, according to NPR.

Posters reading “No les des la espalda, dale pecho” or “Don’t turn your back on them, give them your breast,” featured celebrities going topless such as actress Camila Sodi and boxer Mariana Juárez.

The posters have been denounced by groups such as GIRE, for sexualizing women and condemning those who choose not to breastfeed, according to TIME.

The health campaign was meant to encourage more women to breastfeed, as Mexico has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Latin America. Women’s health advocates attribute this to issues such as poverty, long work hours, and stigmas against breastfeeding in public, according to Jezebel.

After groups spoke out against the campaign, the posters were removed from the city’s website and an official for the city’s health department said that the campaign is being revised, according to the New York Daily News.

Reach Executive Producer Arash Zandi here. Follow him on Twitter here.



 

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