DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_3_174

V. A. Veremenko, Ju. V. Sutula. “The Art of Persuasion” — Foreign Infant Formula on the Russian
Market in the Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries // Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 3, 2025,
pp. 174–186

Abstract:

The article, drawing upon a comprehensive array of sources including advertising materials,
professional literature by hygienists and physicians, publications from the specialist and women’s press, as well as corporate records, undertakes a thorough analysis of the pivotal role of advertising agencies in the dissemination of foreign infant formula within the domestic market during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

During this period, more than 20 foreign companies offering breast milk surrogates were represented in Russia. The significant cost of these products meant that they were accessible only to the wealthy segment of the country’s population. The advertisement, which promised high-quality, useful and easy-to-use products, was aimed at this educated public. The position of doctors, some of whom participated in the formulas’ advertising, the presence of these companies’ products at all hygiene exhibitions, with the attribution of “proper nutrition”,
as well as a well-thought-out advertising campaign, provided foreign manufacturers with an almost monopoly position in the artificial baby food market.

Key words: baby food, foreign milk formula, responsible parents, foreign manufacturers, advertising company, doctors, hygienists.

Author:

Veremenko, Valentina Alexandrovna — Dr. of Sci. in History, Professor, Head of the Department
of Russian History, Pushkin Leningrad State University (Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: v.a.veremenko@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-5217-560

Author:

Sutula, Julia Vitalievna — Postgraduate student of the Department of Russian History of Pushkin
Leningrad State University (Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: jmitlina@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-5338-0065

References:

Bakharev, D. S., Glavatskaya, E. M. Mladencheskaia smertnost’ v russkom pozdneevropeiskom gorode: ural’skii kontekst [Infant Mortality in the Russian Late European City: the Ural Context. In Russ.]. In Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya. 2021. No. 72, pp. 5–14.

Mitsyuk, N. A. Rasprostranenie detskikh smesei v Rossii (nachalo XX v.): medikalizatsiya i kommertsializatsiya detskogo pitaniya [Distribution of Infant Formula in Russia (Early 20th Century): Medicalization and Commercialization of Baby Food. In Russ.]. In Skvortsova, V. N., Veremenko, V. A. (eds.). Material’nyi factor i predprinimatel’stvo v povsednevnoi zhizni naseleniya Rossii: istoriya i sovremennost’. St. Petersburg, Leningradskii gosudarstvennyi universitet imeni A. S. Pushkina, 2016. P. 155–160.

Nesterenko, O. K., Ukraintsev, S. E., Dubrovskaya, M. I. Sovremennye kontseptsii razrabotki i sozdaniya detskikh molochnykh smesei: vchera, segodnya, zavtra [Modern Concepts of Development and Creation of Infant Formula: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. In Russ.]. In Pediatriya. Zhurnal imeni G. N. Speranskogo. 2019. No. 98 (1), pp. 201–209. https://doi.org/10.24110/0031–403X‑2019–98–1–201–209

Semenova, O. A. Popechenie o materyakh i mladentsakh v Sankt-Peterburge v nachale XX v. na primere gorodskoi “Kapli moloka” [Taking Care of Mothers and Babies in St. Petersburg at the Beginning of the 20th Century on the Example of the Urban “Drop of Milk”. In Russ.]. In Istoriya povsednevnosti. 2019. No. 4 (12), pp. 72–81.

Sinova I. V. Okhrana zdorov’ya vospitannikov blagotvoritel’nykh zavedenii dlya detei v seredine XIX — nachale XX v. (na materialakh Sankt-Peterburga) [Health Protection of Pupils of Charitable Institutions for Children in the Middle of the 19th — Early 20th Century (Based on the Materials of St. Petersburg). In Russ.]. In Istoriya povsednevnosti. 2023. No. 2 (26), pp. 82–99.

Skidan, I. N., Pyr’ev, E. A., Kon’, I. Ya. Razvitie industrii smesei znamenitostei grudnogo moloka
[Development of the Industry of Celebrity Breast Milk Mixtures. In Russ.]. In Voprosy pitaniya. 2017. No. 86 (5), pp. 91–100.

Veremenko, V. A. Organizatsiya pitaniya mladentsev v obshchestvennykh uchrezhdeniyakh S.-Peterburga (poslednyaya tret’ XIX — nachalo XX v.) [Organization of Infant Nutrition in Public Institutions of St. Petersburg (the Last Third of the 19th — Early 20th Century). In Russ.]. In Veremenko, V. A. (ed.) Zdorov’esberezhenie v povsednevnoi zhizni: istoriia i sovremennost’ = Health saving in everyday life: history and modernity: in 2 vols. St. Petersburg, Leningradskii gosudarstvennyi universitet imeni A. S. Pushkina, 2024. Vol. 2. P. 212–216.

Veremenko, V. A., Sutula, Ju. V. Gigiena pitaniya doshkol’nikov v stolichnykh dvoryansko-intelligentskikh sem’yakh Rossii v kontse XIX — nachale XX v. [Nutritional Hygiene of Preschoolersin Russian Metropolitan Noble Families of the Intelligentsia in the Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries. In Russ.]. In Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. 2023. Vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 496–509. https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8674-2023-22-3-496-509

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