Boots shite

[TheConstantLurker]

can we not have a thread which just a huge advert or Boots please.
First I got a survey about Boots- would you go to Boots to get advice? No, not really.
Next thing there are lots of little ads for the new "Boots Feel Good Forum"
now we have a sticky for it and really it's a massive advert for Boots with some adverts for sun products thrown in.
I realise MN will be being paid for this and it's a way of earning but it's very annoying to have it dressed up as a thread and all feel good and helpful (not)

[TheConstantLurker]

for Boots

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

I agree. Was thinking this the other day. It just feels very...forced.

[BrianCoxandTheTempleofDOOM]

I plan to hide it when I next fire up my laptop

it really is the most shite thing MN has ever endorsed/promoted .

but then I'm sleep deprived and grumpy so whaddoiknow!

[TheConstantLurker]

Yep hiding it will be my next move.

[EauRouge]

OMFG, what is that on my active convos? Has anyone else got a life-sized Kate Thornton grinning at them?

[Freddiemisagreatshag]

Yip. It is very very annoying. And pissing me off.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

Bloody awful, it's actively putting me off buying anything from Boots. How much money did they give you for this shit?

[SoupDragon]

I really hope they are paying you a fortune for the overbearing side ads.

[UnChartered]

i'm a bit fecked off with seeing a new 'Boots' thread almost every day

i know i can hide them, but since it seems to be pissing us off, isn't that counter-productive, MNHQ?

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Side ads make me hate the product / company because it is so easy to accidentally click them on a laptop. They give me the rage.

[Jins]

Oh I agree. I'm on the verge of cancelling the emails for surveys etc because I keep seeing bloody Boots cropping up.

I hate that store with a passion

Thanks for the tip on hiding though

[blueberryboybait]

It's starting to look a bit like The Daily Mail on the active convo's page, they run similar edge of page ads!

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

Ahhh it's not just me that has Kate Thornton gurning out at me then?

It's not very nice, makes the page look too cluttered.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

And I bloody well know how to get a good night's sleep.

Don't have kids.

[CrowsLanding]

I'm actually looking on topics now instead of active convos. This horrible blue/green page is giving me a headache!
It looks like mumsnet has been squeezed in the middle of a boots website!

Please fix this MNHQ.

[Gerrof]

Oh I don't mind really.

They have got to make money somehow haven't they?

And perhaps whilst they are here (Boots) they may take notice of the fact that those fucking adverts 'here come the girls' are loathed by everyone.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

I don't mind adverts, just don't make them noticeable and eyecatching...

[JustineMumsnet]

Hello, hello

As some of you have commented we're doing quite a lot of stuff with Boots to promote their new Feel Good Forum radio show. They wanted a radio show where Mumsnetters could get their questions on specific subjects, from parenting to style and beauty, answered on air by various experts. We liked the idea - and it's had a good response in terms of questions, so obviously quite a few have found it useful.

We do often open threads where we incentivise recruitment like this - the reason there have been a few of these is that there have been six different radio shows. This week's thread has a £200 voucher up for grabs if you post, by the way...

Obviously, the show is not for everyone and many of us, thank the Lord, have passed through the "how to get your kids to sleep" phase (and moved on to the "how to get your kids out of bed" phase). But we do have the ignore/hide option if it's not for you and you'll understand that it does make sense to promote things to those that might be interested.

I know some aren't keen on the ads down the sides (otherwise know as page takeovers) but advertisers are, because they are pretty effective. At the end of the day MN is funded by advertising, not subscription and because of the ads it is free to use, so we do hope those who aren't keen on the ads can put up with them for the sake of the bigger picture [pleading eyes].

Thanks, as ever, for the feedback.

[Jins]

Justine is there any way to unsubscribe from mnhq emails referring to anything to do with boots? If I unsubscribe from the research panel then I won't get the interesting ones but anything to do with boots gives me the rage.

[OrlaKiely]

It's certainly putting me off using MN today.

Very distracting having Kate whatsit down the side. Well, half her face. I can't even see most of it.

Someone PM me when it's stopped?

[OrlaKiely]

Y'know you might as well call it Bootsnet for the time being

It reminds me of the bit in O Brother Where Art Thou where Pappy gets on the stage to promote his own campaign, on the back of the Soggy Bottom Boys...

'But they's miscegenated!'

'But folks don't mind that they's integrated!'

I think we're being taken advantage of.

[MardyBra]

Please tell Boots that I clicked on the ad by mistake, because it's so fucking intrusive large. I don't want them to think I'm interested or anything.

I do understand the need for adverts, but this "down the sides" business isn't working for me.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Jins - why does Boots make you so ragey?

[Jins]

It's a long story involving them buying out the small local pharmacies where you could buy generic drugs for pence and replacing them with mini boots which sell feck all apart from slim fast and makeup and their own version of drugs for about 3p less than the named brand. Drives me nuts. The brands have had to pay all the development costs then as soon as exclusivity ends along comes Boots and thinks they do us a favour for charging £10.49 instead of 10.99 for fluconazole or something.

I'm on my phone so can't find it but I posted examples of this a few weeks back. I used to be able to buy antihistamines for 99p from the lovely old pharmacy. Now it's nearly £3 for boots or £3.29 for the proper brand.

Superdrug don't do it. Why should bloody thieving, patronising, boots?

And relax. I get a bit worked over this issue

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

'page takeover' sounds about right - it feels like MN has been taken over by Boots.

Maybe advertisers do like them and see them as effective (Though I wonder how effective they are if you discount accidental clicks) but I wonder if they've misjudged their market here - MNers on the whole like things to look uncluttered and unfussy. You can see this from the reaction to threads asking for features such as embedding quotes and sparkly tickers, and it says something that we can only embed images on a couple of topics - people haven't been historically keen on that feature either because it would make MN look 'cluttered'.

FWIW, I've managed to block the side ads now. I'm left with a ghastly turquoisy-blue background which clashes horribly with all the other non-turquoisy shades of blue used on the site.