Editorial: Breastfeeding message damaged

La Leche has done little more than damage its own image and message with the storm in a teacup about an axed portion of a smokefree campaign advertisements showing All Blacks hero Piri Weepu bottle feeding his baby.

The Health Sponsorship Council's TV ad, part of its "Smoking, Not Our Future" drive, features Weepu at home with his two daughters and Weepu speaking about the positives of a smoke-free home and car. A small portion showing him bottle feeding 6-month-old Taylor was removed after the health council consulted La Leche and Plunket.

Next thing, La Leche is kicking up a fuss about what a bad message that clip was sending, with people associated with the group launching an email campaign against the ad.

"The damage that this shot of a celebrity All Black will do to breastfeeding in New Zealand Aotearoa will be significant" the email stated. What an outrageous load of rubbish.

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.