“Better start”: promoting breastfeeding through demarketing

BACKGROUND: This paper explores how demarketing strategies impact women’s breastfeeding attitudes, intentions, and behaviors under the moderation of time pressure and breastfeeding knowledge. METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey among 369 respondents is used to test the proposed hypotheses. The study's population includes all breastfeeding women in Palestine. Snowball and convenience sampling were used to choose study participants through personal connections and social media. Every respondent was encouraged to share the survey with their social media contacts. RESULTS: The data results confirm the positive effects of promotion, place, price, and product demarketing, respectively, on women’s attitudes, intentions, and behavior toward breastfeeding. These effects were reinforced by reduction in time pressure and breastfeeding knowledge. Furthermore, demarketing effects are stronger for younger, more educated, unemployed, and lower-income women. CONCLUSION: The study is a primer on promoting breastfeeding instead of formula by means of demarketing strategies.