AIBU re is this product placement innappropriate in Home Bargains?

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Nipped into HB earlier as wanted to see if cherry Twizzlers were back in, as been only hateful strawberry ones there for weeks..the bastards! But yes, they were :-)

Halloween section all out in the first aisle . I love most things spooky/gory/horror unless real life.. was surprised to see a pile of books in the centre of all the skulls and pumpkins... one title on Harold Shipman and another on the Moors Murderers.
AIBU to think it does piss a bit, on the victims and their families? After all, it's real life horror amongst all the fun tat, the party and Trick or Treat stuff.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were child torturers and murderers. Would the store for example have placed a book on, say, Baby P or James Bulger, in the same section?
The moors murders were so long ago but their familes are still out there. As for Shipman, that's incredibly recent compared to the Moors
I would say ok in a book section but not with the Halloween. Why? Is there a selling suggestion that a child would go T or T with a book on the Moors Murderers under her arm? Or on the coffee table of a Halloween party?
Expect I'll be called oldfashioned and boring now but just seems a bit odd to me
If you were say the daughter of a Shipman victim, would you want to walk into a HB store and see that in amongst the plastic tat sold as a party accessory?

[badgergirl82]

I recognise Carrie isn't a documentary, miles

But horror films do present torture, murder and rape of adults and sometimes children. People are interested in it - if it's offensive, then really true crime novels and websites shouldn't exist. I'm just not sure why Home Bargains shouldn't be selling it.

[caroldecker]

So what is the time period allowed between the events happening and being ok for halloween?

[alltoomuchrightnow]

My point being , Caroldecker, they are placed bang in the middle of the novelty items. There are no other titles, just those two . I would have no problem being elsewhere in shop ie a book section. It's the fact it was part of the Halloween display , thus suggesting a Halloween related item. As a pagan this does offend me. Unlike many pagans I know, I 'm not offended by eg the caricature of a witch (can you imagine if witches had the outrage of eg the Charlie Hebdo situation?!)
To suggest that child torturers are in the same category as fun plastic skulls and pumpkin candles, fake blood and such is what i find odd
Why would head office laugh at me? As a shop manager myself, I would hope this wasn't true. This week I start my own Halloween display in my store . But I wouldn't take real life books out of our crime section and put them in the window with it. To me it's no different to putting a book on the killers of say Victoria Columbia (not sure of spelling, sorry) or Sarah Payne in the Halloween section.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Climbie not Columbia

[mileend2bermondsey]

Yes but the book wasn't in the 'True Crime' books section was it Badger ?
It was in next to Jack O Lanterns and witches costumes in the light hearted halloween section. If you cant see what is wrong with that, then I cant even...

Why don't you imagine this scenario: someone tortures rapes and kills your DC/DParents. There is a book written about it and you walk past a window display and see it along side vampires teeth and plastic spiders as part of a promotion for a 'fun' commercial holiday. Still think there is no problem?

[mileend2bermondsey]

To suggest that child torturers are in the same category as fun plastic skulls and pumpkin candles, fake blood and such is what i find odd

^^This

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

I can't believe you've been told by a pp that you're being too sensitive. Halloween to me is about çute little ghosts and children dressing up and getting candy ect and making decorations or to put it another way a bit of harmless innocent fun.
Regardless of how long ago the moors murders were is irrelevant. That thing is still living his life, and that poor mum Winnie Johnson was never given the chance to give her beautiful boy a burial, because that thing (I cant even write his name) refused to tell her where he had disposed of poor little Keith's body.
To say it is inappropriate to put books like this by Hallowe'en decorations toys and candy, is the biggest understatement ever!. I am disgusted.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

thanks, Ilove. I think I am not being too sensitive. As I said, I'm not the most PC person. I detest the nanny state and so on. As a witch/pagan I'm very broadminded. I don't have chlldren, and never will. I'm not overly sentimental when it comes to kids, even. I like them but in small doses ;-) But it was Winnie Johnson that actually came to mind. She only died in recent times, not at peace as never found out where her boy was buried. I'm wondering if people who think it's ok have not read the accounts or the police interviews with the moors murderers. How those poor children pleaded and begged and were tortured before their murders. The ongoing hell and torture of their familes who were never to find peace. It has always haunted me. I read the book written by Sara Payne about her daughter Sarah. So to me , it is no different that finding that book amongst the candy and skulls. Why is Moors murders ok because it was long ago (really? it was after Aushwitz for example. Should books on concentration camps be with the halloween stuff?) Since when did child torture become 'fun' and 'novelty'?
As I said..it's about the product placement..and not actual sale of in the store

[caroldecker]

You said Jack the ripper would be ok as old - so just asking what your cut off is?

[expatinscotland]

YANBU

[Baconyum]

I agree OP inappropriate and poor marketing as its not something kids of the age into t or t are into.

I'm interested in serial killers and so on as I'm interested in psychology but this is definitely inappropriate.

[Grapejuicerocks]

Yanbu

[kali110]

But why would it be ok for the jack the ripper murders to be in the halloween section but not the others?
What makes one murder worse than the other?

[kali110]

Some Adults are also into halloween though. We certainly like to decorate the house for halloween..

[LookAtAllThesePhucksIGive]

Somebody should tweet this thread to home bargains. Dh's great aunt was one of Shipmans victims and my mil is upset at the name being used (alongside West and Sutcliffe) in Gavin and Stacey. Some people forget that actual human beings are still suffering. It's history to them. It's still very real and painful to the families left behind.

[SaskiaRembrandtWasFramed]

YANBU. I love Halloween, but it should be about fictional monsters, it's inappropriate and insensitive to use real situations in this way.

I'd email the shop manager, hopefully it's a mistake not an actual policy.

[hairbrushbedhair]

YANBU

[CrapBag]

I'm very into true crime but I find this very distasteful. Absolutely no need for HB to have these books with all the Halloween stuff. They are hardly children's lighthearted fun books!

[DontStopBelievin]

Horribly distasteful, yes. Could I get worked up about it? No. Only because ALL of Halloween is pretty disgusting really. Or is it only ok to celebrate all things blood, guts, gory, death, pretend murders etc if it has no real life cases attached to them?

[Mrsjayy]

Yanbu its distasteful and disgraceful its trivialising their crimes and bumping them into boogie man territory.

[Shallishanti]

OP you should definitely ask to have a word with the manager, as someone said it may have been a mistake by a stupid inexperienced member of staff
that may be all that is needed to put it right
print out this thread if you want- I am a frequent shopper at HB and if they failed to address this matter after it was brought to their attention, I would no longer be giving them my custom

[honeyroar]

I think that's a very thoughtless thing to put in halloween displays. YANBU.

[XX1Tinky88Xx]

I have to comment as today my friend visited bridgend branch of home bargains and found this same book on Myra Hinckley and Ian Brady in the children's books section right in the middle of the kids books!!! Home bargains are DISGUSTING!! Head office can try and laugh over this complaint I dare them!!

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

I think it's on par with putting medication in a sweet isle.

I see nothing wrong with putting the book 'funny bones'in a Halloween section. However true life books should be kept away from seasonal crap.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Tinky no way!