Smyth's free lego

The free Lego promotion is i imagine run in conjunction with Lego, they use it to get the kids interested in Lego.

If noone bought the bigger sets there would be no free Lego. The freebies are marketing pure and simple and if you don't like it don't go for the freebies.

Also learn to say no to your kid.

The sooner children learn that they can’t always have what they want, when they want it, the better, IMO.

Why didn’t you explain to your DS in advance? Even a young child could understand that: we’re going to a shop that sells Lego and they have some mini sets we can have for free. Just the mini sets though.

My DC is ND but he understands that when we go to the supermarket and are offered free cake to taste, that doesn’t mean we can pick a huge cake off the shelf and not pay for it!

Did he really not understand or was he just hoping to pester you until you bought something?

The entire point of the company giving away free Lego is to get your child interested so that he asks for the big sets for Christmas etc which is why it is displayed as it is . It is marketing , they aren’t giving it away just to be kind .

They’re just running a business. Already very generous as it is giving away free small Lego sets. Nothing wrong here.

You explained just fine.

I suspect the first time, everyone got free Lego and Smyths made no money. This time, I bet at least one parent gave into buying the bigger Lego sets (even if they come back to buy it for Christmas). So all in all a much more successful event for Smyths.

I stand by my earlier post.

I'm not sure a trip to a massive toy shop was the best idea.

Of course they're trying to sell you stuff while you have been sucked in with the promise of freebies
It's how promotions like that work

@HiccupHorrendousHaddock ok you can keep him then 🙂
(Get well soon to your Dad 💐)

Oh you know full well you are YABU. If you don't want to buy your child toys, don't take them to a toy shop. Go to the park instead and stop teasing them.

I just asked my 5 year old, if we went into a shop and you could choose a tiny Lego set for free, or a large Lego set for £100 which would you choose.
He chose the free Lego.

Although now he's winging he wants free Lego

He’s driving me across the country to visit my Dad in hospital following heart surgery, so I figure he’s earned a free pass.

DS1 buys me Lego for Christmas every year. It’s nice.

Every shop in the universe puts freebies alongside of bigger paid for promos.
They are a business and the freebies are only a ladder to people buying the more expensive stuff. But you know this as you live in the world.

No good deed goes unpunished, does it?

@HiccupHorrendousHaddock oh dear. It's time to LTB I'm afraid 😂

Or the parent can parent? Novel that idea seems

We’ve just driven past a Smyths and DH told me not to be ridiculous, we aren’t detouring on the off chance of a free minifig. Spoiled sport.

You are never too old for Lego. Although the OP is perhaps proving you can be too petty.

I want the D&D figs, they’re too cute. The crazy cat lady from the Lego Movie lives on my bookcase.

But they’re not giving it away out of the goodness of their hearts are they? They are doing it in the hope that people will buy more Lego. I’d understand if it was a community organisation giving away free toys but this is a marketing promotion by two huge toy companies - so you can’t be annoyed that they are trying to sell you something 😊. Taking your kid to a huge toy shop to pick up a free item, I’d say there was already a big risk they will spot something else they want anyway. Hence I won’t go today because I’ll only be asked for about a billion other things!

Well the swings in the park are free but you can't take them home.

The whole point is to get you to buy the expensive Lego sets.
If they weren’t on display, then you wouldn’t buy them.

When you get free samples in the bakery, they will have them next to the real thing.
They’re not going to hide the real thing or give it away for free, as that’s the whole point.

I think they could have had the free lego on a separate table but lego to purchase nearby next to it.
I guess If there's a big sign above or on the table saying "free lego sets" with boxes of expensive need to purchase lego on it as well as the smaller free packets then that does have the potential to cause upset and misunderstanding in children who can be very literal.
Its a hard lesson that kids have to learn not much in life is free and if something sounds too good to be true then it is!
I think expectations need to be managed by parents but yes smiths should have organised the display and signage better by the sounds of it.

Your explanation was perfectly clear.

As was the unrealistic sense of entitlement. It’s free Lego! A little minifig for free. That is a source of happiness, not bitching about capitalism.

"Yes it's a business but it seems spectacularly crap to make a free gift confusingly displayed next to other built pieces."
spectacularly crap in what way?

Morally?

From a business sense it's a great idea, entice people in with the free stuff and then up-sell so the shop actually makes money. They are a business, they aren't giving the free versions away out of the goodness of their hearts, they want people to spend money in their shop. Surely your DC gets the concept of you can have squash but not vodka, a child's meal not an adults one, the plain black school shoes not the shiny wellies with dinosaurs on, etc....

Why couldn't you just tell them 'You get the free set now and if you like it think about which one of the expensive sets you might want to ask for for Christmas?'

So presumably your son is old to enough to not only read the word “free”, but also understand what it means? In which case he’s also old enough to understand which pieces were free.
If he’s not old enough to understand or read the word “free”, then the responsibility for him getting it wrong is on your shoulders.
Of course they advertise full price stuff alongside the free, it’s called marketing.
This is a bit like complaining you have to drive past a McDonald’s on your way to school because your son gets upset that he can’t have one, and then expecting McDonald’s to move it

Just looked at those sets and they're large polybags, the despicable me one is about £6 on eBay, I think that's really good!!! Hoping they haven't run out when we go.