I think that we need to remember that the article is attacking the companies who are pushing formula rather than the woman who formula feed. Whilst I support every woman's right to choose how she feeds her baby I don't support the right of multi-nations to undermine breastfeeding.
I think that there is a case for pushing an anti FF agenda as well as a pro BF agenda; bottle feeding really is normalised by our society in very insidious ways. Although we know that breast is best if you look at cards in a newsagency a large proportion of them have pictures of bottles, on ticker sites there are pictures of bottles as markers, babiesonline has bottle pictures for backgrounds, Anne Geddes and baby photographers take photos of babies in giant bottles - unlike the breast, the bottle is a symbol of a baby. I have yet to see a congratulations card with a baby feeding on the boob.
Since becoming a mother I have noticed that most film and TV depictions of baby feeding involve bottles - in Neighbors just a week or two ago a mother said she had to heat a bottle and exited. She could have said feed the baby which would have been more neutral but she specified the bottle. I watched a bit of "look who's talking too" on TV - the boy baby was talking about his bottle and the sister was being given a bottle.
Since the bottle is used to symbolise 'babyness' and bottlefeeding is depicted as the norm by the media I think that breastfeeding lobbyists do need to be a little aggresive in thier promotion of the breast. Lets face it we're up against Nestle et al and they're not going to have any qualms about being negative about the breast if they can get away with it.
One angle that seems to pass people by is the environmental impact of FF. Yasin has been using formula since 11 months and the amount of tins we have disposed of is ridiculous. In addition the burden that milking cows place on the environment is probably far greater than the few extra calories that a breastfeeding mother needs. The manufacturing of formula requires a factory with all its associated energy consumption, waste and by-products. By comparison the factory that makes breast-milk is far more energy efficient has fewer by-products and is considered so attractive that it used as a marketing tool for everything from cars to chocolate.