Bobbie: Feeding is personal not perfect

One of the many new pressures new parents and new mothers face is what kind of formula is best for their baby? There is so much pressure to do everything the “right way” as well as stigma around ‘formula feeding’.

Medical needs, low-milk supply, and any other number of personal or lifestyle factors may lead to a parent choosing infant formula. Bobbie, one of only four infant formula manufacturers in America, understands this pressure. Which is why their founder and CEO Laura Modi, founded the first mom founded and led infant formula company, per the Bobbie website.

Bobbie recently enlisted the help of model, lifestyle creator, author of Homemade and mother of four, and social media influencer Nara Smith to poke fun at the parenting pressure and destigmatize the use of formula in their new National Campaign, per Morning Star. Smith has amassed her following online by making meals from scratch in fancy gowns. The campaign, styled as a satirical trailer shows Smith sifting through parenting books and internet chat groups desperately trying to figure out the perfect formula recipe to make for her hungry baby. 

Going frantically down a rabbit hole of ingredients and recipes, “You're the girl who can DIY anything you’ve done it before,” Smith narrates in the video. She starts pacing, looking up individual ingredients and what they mean: DHA, Choline, iron. How can she know what’s being tested safely? We see Smith start to spiral, as many new parents can relate to those challenges of new parenthood. 

Smith has a pinboard with notes, string, like a detective solving a crime style when the doorbell rings and actress, model, and body-positive activist Ashly Graham walks in and tell’s Smith, “You know there’s no such thing as a perfect formula for every baby?” “I just brought you what I fed my twins,” Graham says and pulls out a can of Bobbie formula. “They did all the research so you don’t have too.” The video ends with Smith feeding her baby Bobbie formula and the text reads- Feeding is personal, not perfect. The campaign video ends with black-and-white outtake footage of Graham and Smith laughing at Smith’s bleeped-out expletives with Smith saying “you don’ think I cuss?” and then preceding to cuss and saying “I actually cuss a lot.” 

The campaign video is less than 2 minutes total, but the impact has been huge. It’s an important message for new parents- there is no perfect way to parent or feed your baby. It is a personal decision and unique to every baby’s and parents circumstances, needs, etc. The campaign launched September 16th across  CTV, TikTok, YouTube and Meta platforms, along with a billboard in Times Square.

Kim Chappell, Chief Branding Officer at Bobbie and mom of three shared, "Nara Smith has become the internet’s icon of making the impossible look effortless."So when even Nara, the ultimate 'make-it-yourself' mom, goes down the formula research rabbit hole feeling overwhelmed, obsessive, and vulnerable, it exposes a broader truth. Not only is this entire spot a satire of the journey our founder Laura went on when she started Bobbie as a first-time mom, but it’s something all parents can resonate with. Chasing perfection in parenting is an exhausting trap. Our goal with this is to bring clarity, confidence, and peace of mind to parents, taking the research burden off their shoulders so they can focus on feeding their baby however works best for them,” per Morningstar. 

New parents, especially mothers, often feel the pressures of unrealistic parenting pressures through online comparison. According to a Survey conducted by Motherly, nearly 72.5% of mothers compare themselves to others on social media. Regardless of social media followers and aesthetics, no one is immune to feeling that parenting pressure. 

Smith, the creator, model, and mom of four, shared, “People see a two-minute video on social media and project an entire life onto it. The truth is, as a mom of four, my feeding journey hasn't been perfect with any of my kids, and that's okay. Going down rabbit holes late at night, second-guessing choices, and wanting the absolute best for your baby is something every single parent goes through, no matter who you are. I’m exclusively feeding my youngest with Bobbie right now and when it came to choosing a formula, Bobbie was the natural choice: EU-inspired, made right here in the US, and made with ingredients I trust and would actually feed myself. Bobbie does the heavy lifting and research so we have permission to let go of perfection,” per Morningstar. 

Bobbie did so much right with this campaign. The satire is easy to understand, Nara Smith is a natural fit for the the message that there is no single “perfect” way to feed your baby is one many new parents will recognize. But there is an interesting tension in a campaign about stepping away from parenting perfection that relies so heavily on Smith’s carefully curated online persona.  Bobbie is using the same influencer culture that can contribute to parenting comparison to deliver its message about escaping that comparison. 

The campaign also focuses heavily on the idea that Bobbie can take the research burden off parents, which makes sense from a brand perspective but also belongs in the context of a larger conversation. Feeding decisions can involve medical recommendations, cost, access, breastfeeding, combination feeding, switching formulas and many other circumstances. Bringing some of those other realities into the campaign could have made its message feel even more inclusive: feeding is personal because every family’s circumstances are different.

What this campaign did best though is it understands that new parents don't need another standard to live up to. Its next opportunity is showing them what it can actually look like to let that standard go.

Written by Hannah Lacy
Hannah Lacy is a digital content strategist with over seven years of experience in marketing and social media, and more than a decade of experience as a freelance writer contributing to various publications. A working mother of two school-aged children, she writes at the intersection of ambition and parenthood, with a passion for storytelling, advocating for working moms, and partnering with mission-driven brands and organisations.