to think debenhams wall of sweets at the till in the childrenswear dept is disgraceful.

[mairmaid]

Don't often go shopping but found myself next to a wall of sweets in Debenhams childrenswear dept. Is this a new thing? I asked them if there was not some legislation with respect to sweets at tills. Their response "We're not a supermarket". Was there not a reason why legislation was recently stopped to reduce pester power at supermarket tills? Does it make it ok in debenhams just because you don't need to buy clothes as regularly as food?

If there were nice bottles of wine at the till, there may well have to be some DH wrestling. As it is, I'm with bibbitybobitty on the weird shoplifting. Anything on the bottom shelf at the supermarket is fair game for DS. I think he's trying to be helpful, but we really don't need that many j-cloths.

YANBU. It's one thing in a food shop, where you go purposely to buy food. Not in a clothing store.

I hate this kind of marketing aimed at getting kids to pester their parents to death.

It's all very well saying 'just say no', but it is bloody hard work when your kid NEVER accepts a no as a no, and pesters and pesters and pesters, not only for minutes, but hours and even days.

OK, this is not sweets, DS wanted club bloody penguin membership. I said no. DS said pleaaaaaaase. NO! But mummmeeeeeee! On and on and on and on and on. Then the hissy fit, the pout. Then the tantrum. Then the I hate you mummy. Then the kicking and hitting me, breaking something that belongs to me, throwing my things on the floor...

I have no one to turn to to help me. If I am out and about the public is judging me.

So, I hate bloody disney, and I hate marketing directors with their bloody cold hearted and callous determination to sell crap to us that we don't need and isn't even good for us.

Bibbity and zip slight hijack but I can beat both of those...

My little sister used to take the security tags that had been taken off items at the till and hide them in her buggy

Libra Adults eat sweets too. Shoppers are overwhelmingly adult, especially in a clothes shop. My dd is much more likely to have a 'showdown' over clothes than sweets so should they not sell clothes either in case I have to say no to my precious angel? We are constantly bombarded with advertising and saying sweets by the checkout is 'manipulation' is ott. The posters with heavily airbrushed models advertising the clothes and makeup and perfume is a greater manipulation of our daughters and much more worthy of complaint as you can say no to sweets but you can't stop them looking at the images of half naked women looking orgasmic over some overpriced moistuiser.

I don't want to life in a state where decisions about placement of goods which can be lawfully sold to minors is subject to the law. My family are from a country where they had to wear the same clothes and have the same hairstyles and read the same books to avoid the bourgeois consumerism of the west and that was real, serious manipulation with no choice to say no. Marketing and advertising is not going to be outlawed so it seems more sensible to teach our children that adverts are trying to make you buy things, tantruming gets you nowhere, too many sweets rot your teeth and are unhealthy and if you have spent all your pocketmoney then you can't buy it than wring our hands and blame the govenment/the shop/the youth of today.

allsquare did they set off the alarms?

Mrs Alan are we not already living in a state where there are laws about selling to minors? No junk food on childrens TV (hooray!)

I intend to teach DS and DD to resist advertising as much as I can (sweeties AND overpriced moisturiser), but I reserve the right to whinge about how annoying it is.

MrsAlanKey I do hear what you are saying. However, this particular thread was not started to cover the wider manipulation that advertising covers. This was about a large amount of confectionery in a children's wear department.

You mention "so should they not sell clothes either in case I have to say no to my precious angel?" Firstly, you are inferring an attitude regarding "precious children" that the OP did not raise. Secondly, this is about confectionery in a children's clothing department. I would sincerely hope that it would stock clothes in a clothing dept. Thirdly, you mention "half naked women looking orgasmic over some overpriced moisturiser", well I wouldn't expect to see some hairy gorilla looking orgasmic over a moisturiser, so therefore I would say that that advertising is somewhat appropriate to the product.

With regard to the country you were raised in having such strict restrictions. Well no-one would want to live in such an oppressed state, that does not mean that through fear of that happening, the manipulation of children should be considered right.

Should this country ever look to be going that way, then I would sincerely hope and pray that the democratic system we live by would enable the people to vote with their feet - so to speak!

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVEMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

Well the makers of products actually BUY shelf placement. If it is something aimed at children they will pay for placement at a spot designed to be seen by children. The makers rely on pester power to sell their product. If it is something aimed at adults they will buy shelf space at eye level rather than too high or to low to catch the shoppers eye. There is also massive research into certain colours people associate with certain products and colours that put people off buying things. They put red lights on meat to make the meat seem juicier and more appealing. It is all marketing. And the shops and makers work together to sell products in a win win situation.

HOWEVER it is YOUR choice as a consumer as to whether you pull out your wallet. (and whether you fall for their cunning tricks!)

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVEMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AN!

Is there an echo in here?

I have seen the wall of sweets the OP talks of, at the Trafford Centre Debenhams about a year ago. To get to the till you truly do have to enter a maze/enclosure with walls of sweets. It wasn't like your run of the mill Tesco diplay, this was like something from Willy Wonka - pretty jars with boiled sweets and ribbons and shit. Real provocative marketing. Right or wrong.

Am just saying because it doesn't seem to me like a lot of posters on here have seen it for themselves. I remember being wrong-footed and confused by it and I certainly don't feel like a weak parent.

Stores know that parents won't risk a showdown with their child in a busy queue and will just say yes

Well then, the parents need to grow a pair and say NO instead!

Why should we HAVE to say no!

Because you are the parent, is my guess! Seriously, if she asked for some shoes, would you say yes? Or underwear? Or hair accessories? Or a coat? A skirt?

All available in/nr the dresses. I call it parent power...the ability to say "no, dd you cannot have xyz'

I don't think that if I buy my child a sweet, that they will have health problems from it.
I always did buy ice cream for my children and myself after/during long walks and shopping trips.
I did know someone though, who would have avoided that store as her daughter would have had a meltdown at the word no.

marmaid YABU..., parents need to be parents and stop expecting other people to set legislation for governing our children when it is an easy thing to say no and simply stick to it.

allsquare I wish they sold vibrating cock rings at the impulse counter... they've usually got the batteries there already and I never seem to have the time to get to the sex shop anymore.

"Stores know that parents won't risk a showdown with their child in a busy queue and will just say yes"... unfortunately, there are parents like this. Mother to sue McDonalds The mother is suing McDonald's because she says the advertisement for the toys in the Happy Meals is such a draw to her 6 year old daughter that she, herself can't say no. Um... if you can't win against a 6 year old you are the parent of, how do you expect to win against McDonald's with such a claim that really only exposes your weakness' Just Say No. The suit in this one even clearly indicates how the advertising machine works and, quite frankly, shouldn't be a surprise in this day and age, but apparently lots of adults seemed to miss that part of how marketing works themselves. The first line of defense begins at home. I agree that advertising shouldn't be directly geared towards young children for reasons cited in this article, and there is a bill in Canada to stop marketing to under 12's but come on, you are the parent, start taking responsibility. Boohoohoo, you have to say 'No' to your child for the umpteenth time in a day!

Why don't you go shopping very often? Is it suddenly distasteful to shop?? If you don't approve, shop elsewhere (or not as the case may be) but legislation? Maybe a little bit OTT.

I am not a Super Mother, I simply don't need legislation to do my job for me.

Personally I think that if people parented rather than relied on laws to do their job for them, life would be better. Actually, I'm not limiting it to parenting - people should take responsibility for themselves.

TK Maxx and Matalan have sweets at the till too. It annoys me too but I just don't buy them.
I actually find it more annoying in a supermarket where you have a full trolleyload of stuff to unload and pack.
If it causes problems for you why not pay at a different till? You can do that in dept stores you know.

Exactly! Vote with feet... marketing will change when it is apparent that more parents are saying no instead of caving.