Discrimination by Enfamil???

[yellowdogmom]

Hi Everyone,

So recently I must have signed up for something, because I have been receiving mailings now from all sorts of baby product companies. The latest one was Enfamil formula. I got a small mailer Monday advertising a $25,000 college scholarship. I was completely shocked to read that in order to be eligible the baby has to be a U.S. resident as of the date of birth. Complete discrimination in my book!

What do you all think? Am I overreacting? My DH is upset by this as well, so we are of course fueling one anothers' fires.

I wrote a letter via their parent company's (Mead Johnson, a division of Bristol-Meyers Squibb) website. I'll attach it below. If you want to check it out, the contest info and rules are posted on the Enfamil site (www.enfamil.com). I, for one, will NEVER be using their products (although, DH said we'll probably end up with our child having some sort of allergy to everything except Enfamil given our luck! LOL!) I'll be interested to see if and what I hear back from them.

-Kristin

Here's my letter:

Dear Sirs,

I received a marketing mailing from you today for Enfamil LIPIL. I
assume I was put on your mailing list because I am an expectant
parent...however, I am not pregnant. My husband and I are adopting
internationally. I was flabbergasted in reading the official rules
of the Enfamil LIPIL Scholarship Sweepstakes finding that "To be
eligible, parents must have a baby or babies who are legal residents
of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia as of the date of
birth, and who are or have been born between November 1, 2002, and
June 30, 2004 (inclusive) ("Eligible Babies")."

To me, this is blatant discrimination against children adopted
internationally who become U.S. citizens after their birth...many of
whom are your customers! I am completely shocked and outraged that
you would discriminate in such a way and I plan to boycott your
products. I also plan to let the adoptive parents communities in
which I am involved know of your discrimination.

Please respond, as I am very interested in an explanation.

Sincerely,
Kristin __________

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

hmmm...
I look forward to hearing what they have to say. For the life of me I can not understand this rule...
Neve
http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan
AKA "mama2be"-forgot password
and Baby Boy Tristan born @UNC
Feb 25, 2003
Brother to 3 pups "gees" and 2 kitties

[Kimberly H]

Oh Kristin, this is just the start... I never realized how adoption-unfriendly our world is.

What should be simple things like registering for your baby at BRU is a trip because you often can't put your baby's birthdate because you don't know it yet or the child you've been referred is older than BRU's system allows, etc.

School projects asking for baby pictures for a game or height/weight at birth to do a math project plotting on graphs or "All About Me" week when everyone else's project showed their birth photos or the much-dreaded family tree assignment. This is all K-3!!

We won't even go into the people asking "how much did she cost?" or saying "China hates girls and they all get abandoned or killed" in front of our daughter or even "she doesn't look too Chinese - maybe her dad is white" (ummm..not much of a chance of that and would that make her better????)

You can't get upset over everything because you'd go mad and I have pretty thin skin so I'm having to take a lot of deep breaths (Myrtle Beach is pretty international adoption ignorant so I'm TRYING to be educational instead of confrontational) but I think you pick your battles and this one is a great one for you. Enfamil may not have considered what they've done or, most likely, they don't consider adoptive children a real market so they're excluding them. Go get 'em!!!

[yellowdogmom]

Kimberly,

You are right...and I think no amount of reading or classes would have prepared me for this first taste of what the world looks like from non-white non-mainstream eyes. I've read so many books and taken several classes both live and on-line, and participated in tons of web forums...but until it actually hits I'm sure I won't know how I'll react. And, truthfully, this Enfamil thing is sadly just a taste of what is to come. Which is one of the aspects of adoption that I consider a true blessing - the opportunity to expand my horizons from my open-minded, but mainstream experiences.

I'll keep you guys posted on what I hear from them!

[momathome]

I am interested in maybe pursuing a Korean adoption. Would you be willing to give me an agency recomendation or websites to check out??? Feel free to pm me if you want to take this discussion off the boards. Tahnks!
-Lauren

[yellowdogmom]

Hi Lauren,

I just sent you an e-mail with some info and web sites :)

BTW, your avatar pic of your DD is waaaay cute!

[momathome]

Thanks, Kristin!
I just responded to your e-mail!
-Lauren

[yellowdogmom]

Here's what I got today:

"Kristin:

Thank you for contacting Mead Johnson, a recognized name in health and nutrition. Children who have been legally adopted by U.S. residents are eligible as long as they are born between, November 1, 2002 and June 30, 2004.

We appreciate your interest in our Mead Johnson promotions. If you have additional questions, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Jan
Consumer Care Specialist
Consumer Resource Center"

I'm happy with the answer, but I hope that they choose more inclusive language in the future to include in the official rules.

Good to know!

:) Kristin
Adopting #1 from Korea

[Kimberly H]

Great work, Kristin!