Using a Music Video Parody to Promote Breastfeeding and Increase Comfort Levels Among Young Adults

North Americans are not meeting the World Health Organization's breastfeeding recommendations. Young adults understand that breastfeeding is healthy but are uncomfortable seeing breastfeeding. Research aim: The aim of the current project was to determine if a music video parody promoting breastfeeding is perceived by young adults to be an effective means of promotion and if exposure to such a video could increase comfort levels.

Young adults rated how comfortable they felt looking at breastfeeding and bottle-feeding images (pretest). Two months later, a subset of participants watched the music video parody "Breastfeeding My Baby." In Phase 1, participants completed the picture-rating task again (posttest) after a 2-month delay, plus a survey to assess memory and perception of the video. In Phase 2, participants were reminded of the video before completing the comfort ratings, and in the final phase, posttest measures were administered only 1 week after exposure to the video.

Across all phases, the video was perceived to be effective and was memorable. Breastfeeding comfort ratings were comparable at pretest across participant groups; comfort ratings improved at posttest for participants who saw the video but only if they were reminded of seeing it before providing their ratings. At shorter intervals between seeing the video and completing the posttests, comfort ratings for breastfeeding images increased for all participants, highlighting the general importance of exposure to breastfeeding.

Young adults are receptive to using a music video parody to promote breastfeeding, which can help to increase comfort levels with breastfeeding.