Vinamilk
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. Vinamilk only sells CF products in one (Viet Nam) of the five countries selected for the assessment which represents 100% of Vinamilk’s estimated global CF sales. The Country Studies results for Vinamilk are summarized below for Viet Nam across each marketing channel.
Country Studies overview
| Vinamilk | 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 Vinamilk's global CF sales | |
| CHINA | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| GERMANY | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| INDONESIA | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| US | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| VIET NAM | 11 | 5 | Optimum Gold, Ridelac | 37% | 100% |
(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%)
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 total number of incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for Vinamilk that were found in Viet Nam was 11.
For the Viet Nam market, five incidences of non-compliance were observed from inappropriate product labels and through the social listening of online platforms. On traditional media, only one incidence of non-compliance was found during the research period.
Although no commercial complementary foods explicitly intended for infants below six months of age were found for Vinamilk in this assessment, the five online media observations as well as the one traditional media observation in Viet Nam were from CF products that had no clear age range specified. All the label products assessed were found to include a clear age of introduction of the CF product.
Online findings
• The total incidences of non-compliance found online (5), were all found on the company’s local social media platforms (Facebook and Youtube). No point-of-sale promotions were found on online retailers of Vinamilk’s CF products in Viet Nam in the eight-week period the selected channels were monitored.
• Across the country assessment where online adverts of Vinamilk’s CF products were found, an average of three incidences of non-compliance were identified with each observation. All the 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, all products found promoted online did not include a clear recommended age of introduction. Other incidences of non-compliance found in the advertisements included providing education on infant and young child feedings or incentives for product purchase such as gifts. All the online advertisements found included a health claim (five out of five), followed by nutrition claims (four out of five) and marketing claims (three out of five).
Traditional media findings
• During the research period, one CF television advertisement from Vinamilk was found in Viet Nam for which at least seven incidences of non-compliance were observed. The advertisement 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, nor the recommended age of introduction. The advert also included an image of a baby which might suggest the use for infants under the age of six months and text that could undermine breastfeeding. In addition, the product was presented by an expert in a research center, while an endorsement by a health professional is clearly against the Code and recommendation 4 of WHA 69.9 guidance. It contained a health claim, a nutrition claim, and a marketing claim.
CF product label
• The number of Vinamilk CF product labels assessed were five.
• For each of Vinamilk product labels assessed, at least one incident of Code non-compliance was observed. The average number of incidences of non-compliance per product label was three in the Viet Nam market.
• Also, only one of the product labels assessed did not clearly indicate the recommended introduction age, and only one contained text, image or other element that undermines or discourages appropriate complementary feeding.
• The assessment found that all Vinamilk’s product labels contained at least one type of claim: five out of five labels contained nutritional and health claims while four out of the five labels contained marketing claims.
• It is worth noting that ATNI did not have the resources to collect products from the different markets and take pictures of its 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. Vinamilk did not respond to ATNI during the verification phase, and no images of product labels were provided, as requested by ATNI. Therefore, incomplete assessment remained for three products in Viet Nam. Since at least one incidence of non-compliance was identified from the existing images, these labels were counted as a non-compliant observations.
Recommendations
• Given the incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for CF products observed, Vinamilk is encouraged to consider the gaps identified to improve its CF marketing practices in Viet Nam such that they fully align with 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. Vinamilk 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.
• None of the online adverts of CF by Vinamilk that were assessed in Vietnam included 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, which is a Code requirement as per recommendation 4 of the guidance on inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children supported by WHA resolution 69.9. ATNI encourages Vinamilk to fully align with the Code for all CF products, and to ensure that this statement is also included across all forms of marketing on online and traditional media platforms.
• From the online assessment, no point-of-sale promotions were found on online retailers in the eight-week period the channels were monitored. However, from the online media assessment, incidences of non-compliance were found. Vinamilk 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 information and educational material as well as gifts to caregivers.
• ATNI is calling on Vinamilk 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. Vinamilk’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. However, the assessment on one of the indicators in the first topic on “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding” determines whether a company receives the full initial overall Corporate Profile score or only half of it. 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. As described in the findings on the topic “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding” below, Vinamilk was found to market CF products for infants under six months of age, therefore its initial overall Corporate Profile score was halved from 2% to 1%. 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 and 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 Vinamilk 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 Vinamilk’s global sales from markets where CF commitments are upheld |
Geographic penalty applied |
Final Corporate Profile score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1% |
Commercial complementary foods 6-36 months |
0% | 90% | 0.1% |
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 0,09%.
• ATNI calls on Vinamilk to consider the expanded definition of the Code, following the World Health Assembly 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.