peanut, no. Nutritionally, formulas are basically the same. Everything else is marketing. Aptamil are very clever: they target women who feel a bit guilty about formula feeding, and professional, educated women. They do this by making it the most expensive, and giving it a "scientific" name and packaging design, and made-up names for ingredients like "immunofortas" or whatever they're calling it. Historically (in the days before the World Health Organisation clamped down on such practices) they also targetted hospitals and midwives directly, persuading them that Aptamil was "closest to breastmilk" and giving them freebies to give out in maternity wards. They're not allowed to do this any more, but even so, the myth about Aptamil being the best formula persists. In actual fact, both Aptamil and Cow and Gate are owned by Danone, and they're basically identical formulas. But C&G has a different target audience - it and SMA are "heritage" brands in Britain (they're like PG Tips or Cadburys - they've been around a long time, people recognise them and therefore trust them). C&G is cheaper and has more cutesy packaging (teddies etc). Its target market are women who are likely to have decided to ff when pregnant and are happy with this choice, and it's likely that their own mothers used the same brand so they feel they "know" it.
All formula manufacturers have very unethical marketing practices (including HIPP - not so much in the UK, but abroad). The WHO Code for breastmilk substitutes bans the advertising of formula worldwide, but this is a voluntary Code (ie relying on individual countries' governments to comply) and very few do. Those that do (eg Norway) have very high breastfeeding rates, so it's clear that advertising is a reason why some women ff rather than bf (obvious really, or companies wouldn't spend billions doing it). The worst is the USA which refuses to ban any formula advertising at all. The UK is a sort of halfway house, in that advertising first stage formula for newborns is banned, but follow-on formula advertising isn't - so manufacturers deliberately make the packaging on all their formulas very similar, so it's not clear that it's not newborn milk being advertised, and use babies as young as they can get away with in the ads. Most people when questioned will say they've seen formula being advertised, and won't have clicked that they've actually only seen follow-on formula being shown.
All of this matters for lots of reasons: obviously it decreases bf rates, and the more babies that are breastfed, the better for society (in terms of overall decreased cost to the NHS) as well as for the individual babies. It matters for ff mums as well, as they're the ones paying for it. A tin of formula is made of cows' milk, vegetable oil, sugar and vitamins. There is no reason at all why it has to cost £10+ for a tin. The fact is, it costs pence to produce and manufacturers could halve their prices tomorrow and still make a profit. It's expensive because they are making parents pay for the advertising, and for the "free" cuddly cows etc that they give away to pregnant and new mums (this is also illegal under the WHO Code, by the way, which expressly forbids manufacturers from approaching mothers directly). What's even more appalling is that mothers in the West are paying for manufacturers to go to third world countries (which don't generally uphold the Code) to give out "free samples" to mothers for whom FF is simply never going to be a safe option - if you can't guarantee a supply of clean water, sterilising equipment, and of course enough formula (which in some countries parents can't afford, so they resort to diluting it too much to make it last longer) then ff can be a death sentence for your baby.
It stinks, and the problem is that because there is no alternative to breastmilk to give a baby other than formula, the manufacturers have got us over a barrel. Personally, I would like to see the UK government upholding the Code and banning all formula advertising, and I'd like it to be sold in plain packaging, which would also make it cheaper. It won't happen, because these companies are too powerful and have too much influence (Nestle in particular).
Sorry, just seen what an essay this is! Enough. I can highly recommend Gabrielle Palmer's book "The Politics of Breastfeeding", which goes into detail about all this. It's a horrifying, but eye-opening read.
