Hero
Score 2024
Score
Score
Important:
The research findings regarding companies’ performance in this Index are based on information shared by companies or gathered by service providers, in addition to information that is available in the public domain.
The level of detail and comprehensiveness of information shared by companies and gathered through external service providers varied. In the case of limited or no engagement by companies, this Index may not represent the full extent of their efforts. Similarly, in the case of limited data collected by service providers, the findings of this Index may not provide a comprehensive representation of company practices.
ATNI’s research and Indexes do not assess compliance with local regulations or laws, but rather assess private sector performance against international standards and guidance.
CF Country Studies
Score
The Country Studies component of the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 evaluates the extent to which a company’s marketing practices align with specific provisions of the WHO Code (not against local Code-related regulations). The main marketing channels assessed in the Country Studies for the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 are online points-of-sale, traditional and online media outlets, and product labels which were all assessed according to the NetCode protocol. Hero sells CF products in two (Germany and the US) of the five countries selected for the assessment, which altogether represent almost 30% of Hero’s estimated global CF sales. The Country Studies results for Hero are summarized below for each country and across each marketing channel.
Country Studies overview
| Hero | Country assessments | CF market | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total incidences of non-compliance across online, traditional media, and product labels | Number of product labels assessed | Company brands found | CF market share | Proportion of Hero's global CF sales | |
| CHINA | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| GERMANY | 22 | 21 | Freche Freude | <5% | <5% |
| INDONESIA | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| US | 30 | 15 | Baby gourmet, Beech-Nut | 6% | 27% |
| VIET NAM | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
(0 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 100%)
(>0-10 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 66%)
(>10-20 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 33%)
(> 20 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 0%)
• In Germany, Hero has a relatively small CF market share and it’s also a small proportion of Hero’s global CF sales (<5%). A total of 22 incidences of non-compliance were identified, mostly from the 21 CF product labels assessed that contained one or more instances of non-compliance, and one online media advertisement.
• In the US, which represents approximately 27% of the company’s global CF sales, and where Hero’s shares account for approximately 6% of the CF market, a total of 30 incidences of non-compliance were found, of which 15 were within online media channels. All 15 product labels assessed contained one or more instances of non-compliance.
Observed incidences of non-compliance with the Code per country
food < 6 months of age
food 6-36 months of age
Main in-country findings
The highest number of incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for Hero were found in the US (30), followed by Germany (22).
Across the two countries assessments, most incidences of non-compliance observed for Hero were for inappropriate product labels (36), followed by 16 incidences of non-compliance identified through the social listening of online platforms. On traditional media or online retail platforms no incidences of non-compliance were found during the period of monitoring local channels.
Of all 52 incidences of non-compliance, four observations related to Hero’s CF products for commercial complementary foods were explicitly intended for infants below six months of age. According to the WHO, these products should not be available on the market and were counted as incidences of non-compliance. In addition, a total of 18 incidences of non-compliance were related to CF products that had no clear age range specified. The remaining 30 observations from CF products were clearly marketed as suitable for older infants and young children between six months and up to three years of age.
Online findings
• Among the total incidences of non-compliance found online (16), all observations were found on the company’s local social media platforms. The highest number of findings were in the US (15), followed by only one finding in Germany. No point-of-sale promotions were found on online retailers in the eight-week period the channels were monitored.
• Across Germany and the US, where online adverts of Hero’s CF products were found, an average of two and three, respectively, incidences of non-compliance were identified with each observation. All the online adverts were missing the statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. Also, in both countries none of Hero’s CF products found promoted online had a clear recommended age of introduction. Other incidences of non-compliance found with the advertisements included giveaways of products in both countries and product samples or soliciting caregivers through contests in the US.
• In the US, 12 out of 15 online CF advertisements contained at least one type of claim, where the most common type identified were marketing claims. From the only advertisement assessed in Germany no claims were found.
Traditional media findings
• There were no observations of Hero's CF products promoted on traditional media in the six-month period the selected channels were monitored.
CF product label
• The number of Hero CF products assessed ranged between 15 in the US up to 21 in Germany. In total four products, two from Germany and two from the US, were found to be marketed as suitable for infants below six months of age. The Code recommends the introduction of CF products no earlier than six months of age to protect exclusive breastfeeding in this period. As those products should not be available on the market, they were counted as non-compliances and not assessed on any further indicators that evaluate appropriate marketing practices. Therefore, the following results are for CF 6-36 months and those with no clear age indicated.
• For all remaining Hero’s product labels assessed, at least one incident of Code non-compliance was observed. The average number of incidences of non-compliance per product label per market ranged from two in Germany to three in the US.
• Across the two markets, all of Hero CF labels assessed had at least one type of claim, where the most commonly identified were nutritional claims and marketing claims. All the CF products assessed for Hero with clear images in Germany and the US, did not include a statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. In addition, seven product labels, five from Germany and two from the US were found to include an image, text or other representation that might suggest use for infants under the age of six months.
• It is worth noting that ATNI did not have the resources to collect products from the different markets and take pictures of their labels. For this assessment ATNI used product label images from an external provider. For some products, images were not clear enough or did not show all parts of the package, in these cases ATNI asked the respective companies to provide images of the labels. Hero did not respond to ATNI during the verification phase, and no images of product labels were provided, as requested by ATNI. Therefore, assessments remained incomplete for one product in the US, and 10 products in Germany. Since at least one incidence of non-compliance was identified from the existing images, these labels were counted as a non-compliant observation.
Recommendations
• The assessment found four commercial complementary foods explicitly intended for infants below six months of age for Hero, which is against WHO recommendations as these products are considered unwanted breast-milk substitutes since they interfere with exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months. Hero is urged to stop producing and selling commercial CF for infants under six months of age in line with global public health recommendations.
• Given the incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for CF products observed, Hero is encouraged to consider the gaps identified to improve its CF marketing practices globally such that they fully align with the requirements of the Code. The WHA 69.9 supported guidance includes recommendations around which messages should be present on CF labels to support optimal infant and young child feeding, and which are inappropriate and could undermine recommended practices. Hero should incorporate these recommendations in their policies and practices and apply them to their CF products, as none of the CF products in this assessment fully met these requirements. Examples of aspects that the company can improve across all platforms include restricting the use of all types of claims as defined by WHO Europe’s Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model for all forms of CF marketing. Hero is also encouraged to include statements on exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.
• From the online assessment, no point-of-sale promotions were found on online retailers in the eight-week period the channels were monitored. From the online media assessment, however, incidences of non-compliance were found. Hero is strongly encouraged to take responsibility for monitoring its marketing practices beyond local regulations, according to the principles and the aim of the Code and subsequent relevant resolutions, and to take steps to ensure this includes online media channels. The company should also refrain from including giveaways or product samples to caregivers and online contests.
• ATNI is calling on Hero to review all incidences of non-compliance identified across all marketing channels, which were shared in detail with the company, and to take corrective action in each of the markets.
CF Corporate Profile
Score
The Corporate Profile component of the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 evaluates the extent to which a company’s policies align with various provisions of the Code, the effectiveness of its related management systems as well as the company’s level of disclosure on commitments relating to CF marketing. Hero’s CF marketing commitments were assessed across nine topics that cover different aspects of the Code yielding an average score that is equivalent to the company’s initial overall Corporate Profile score before a geographic penalty (if applicable) is applied. A company that is found to market CF for infants under six months of age only gets half of the initial overall Corporate Profile score (this is identified by one of the indicators in the first topic on “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding”). As described in the findings on the topic “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding” below, Hero was found to market CF products for infants under six months of age, therefore its initial overall Corporate Profile score was halved from 0%. The final Corporate Profile score considers how the company’s marketing commitments are applied across different markets for CF products intended for older infants and young children between six months up to three years of age (CF 6-36 months). The next section ‘Geographic application of CF commitments by product type’ shows how the company’s application of commitments for CF 6-36 months was evaluated. The scores and findings on each topic are described in further detail in the section below on ‘CF Commitments by Topic’.
Geographic application by Hero of CF commitments by product type
The percentage of product sales where commitments are upheld, and the geographic penalty applied to CF products intended for older infants and young children aged six months up to three years. The penalty ranges from 0% up to 90% depending on whether a company fully upholds its CF marketing commitments in all or none of the countries in which it operates, respectively, where national Code regulations are absent or less stringent than the company’s policies and standards.
|
Corporate Profile score before penalty |
Product type |
Percentage of Hero’s global sales from markets where CF commitments are upheld |
Geographic penalty applied |
Final Corporate Profile score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% |
Commercial complementary foods 6-36 months |
0% | 90% | 0% |
Commercial Complementary Foods
• No information was found in the public domain nor shared by the company describing if and where (in what markets) marketing commitments are upheld for CF 6-36 products. Therefore, the corresponding geographic penalty is the maximum of 90% and the final Corporate Profile score is 0%.
• ATNI calls on Hero to consider the expanded definition of the Code, following the WHA resolution 69.9 recommendations that cover and address the responsible marketing of commercially produced complementary foods intended for older infants and young children aged 6–36 months.
Topics Overview
CF commitments by topic
Most topics include both policy commitments and management systems except for ‘Guiding principles of infant and young child feeding’ which only considers policy commitments, ‘Implementation and Monitoring’ which only considers management systems, and ‘Disclosure’ which only considers the level of disclosure of identified commitments. ‘Lobbying and Policy Influence’ is the only topic that includes policy commitments, management systems and disclosure.