To be really annoyed by M&S’s LittleShop?

[CraicMammy]

www.marksandspencer.com/c/food-to-order/little-shop

It’s such a waste of plastic and the cardboard shop costs £10!

No one needs this and it’s such a waste.

M&S say you can return the plastic toys in store to be recycled into playground toys, but that will ultimately end up in landfill presumably. And it assumes all items are returned for recycling, which with the best will in the world is overly optimistic.

You receive a collectible for each £20 spent, there are 25 items to collect. So you will need to spend at least £500 to get them all!

When the World is unable to safely dispose of the plastic we have created already, we don’t need more. Poor show M&S!!

Yes, we had some - I think it was from Early Learning Centre.

I sadly though the same.

If anyone fancies the competition, I’m sure my kids have played with a pack of Waitrose food picked up from John Lewis a few years ago.

I have tweeted them and also signed the petition calling for them to stop this. I can think of at least 300 other ways to improve their popularity without resorting to giving out totally unnecessary plastic crap that they think they can justify because of "Recycling". There's np need to recycle if you don't produce unnecessary crap in the first place!!

We've had this previously with the Australian supermarket Coles. I have to say it was an absolute hit with people swapping all over facebook. Schools and pre schools also collected them to assist with counting and sorting.

We put magnetic tape on the back of ours and use them on the fridge.

You're right about the plastic waste, but my dds love the trolleys, perfect size for Barbie!

M&S out of touch again. Can someone link them to this thread?

velocity please can you link to the petition?

Saying it's recyclable really isn't good enough. That doesn't negate the damage already done by making it in the first place. It would be more environmentally friendly to just make the playground furniture they're promising in the first place.

So disappointing that supermarkets / big companies are still pulling this shit.

I love M&S and really don't like to talk them down since I think it would be a tragedy if they disappeared from the high street. I just think someone responsible for promo decision making doesn't have their finger on the pulse at the moment. Everyone is talking about reducing consumption and the amount of stuff we dispose of. It just doesn't sit well with the demographic they aim at.
If they were lidl (I should say i also frequently shop at lidl!) then there would be less controversy.

I got one today, with no idea what it was. The checkout lady said it wasn't plastic, ....it was. Bit annoying as I hate plastic tat.

If it was all cardboard than I don't mind so much, but it all seemed so pointless. M&S have failed here, they don't seem to understand their customer base at all.

I stopped going in for a while when they changed the till over to Britain's got Talent. I heard a lady next to me moaning & the staff member said they had loads of complaints about Amanda Holden's voice.

I want M&S so much to do well, then they make the most odd marketing decisions.

I too stopped shopping there for a few weeks...just irritated by Ant and Dec booming out of the till!
If anyone has a link to the online petition re Little Shop of Horrors please do post.

M&S are massive on environmental stuff, it’s written all over walls etc in their stores so I’m really surprised they’ve got it so wrong here.

Yes, I think they forgot to read their own sustainability policy.

We started a petition against the M&S Little Shop promotion and it has now reached 2000+ signatures in 4 days.

Reading the comments here there are a lot of people who agree that we don't want this throwaway plastic tat, which will end up in landfill and worst still the sea, as it did when Coles in Australia ran this promotion.

75% of the items are new virgin plastic and cannot be recycled (except by taking them back to the store - how many people will do that?). M&S are supposed to be reducing plastic, but appear to have binned "Plan A" with this wasteful promotion.

As a mum, I am appalled that a trusted brand with eco-credentials is running this promotion and have boycotted M&S until they see sense.

Calling all mumsnetters who care about the environment, the planet and our kids - please sign the Petition! chng.it/qxGNBJ7Z and take a look at the website we are currently setting up littleshopoftat.co.uk/ for more information.

Apart from the environmental impact, who wants: a) more unwanted household clutter b) tears and tantrums from little kids when you insist on saying "no" c) the hassle of returning things to be "recycled"?

Agree, they have really misjudged the mood at the moment.

YANBU at all. All this pointless plastic tat has to stop. Plastic packaging is annoying enough when it's not really needed, but this is plastic tat for the sake of it.

However, I suspect it will be difficult to stop as it will put half of China out of work if we stop producing all these stupid plastic trinkets.

Do none of your children play with toys made out of plastic? Ever?

Vilifying M&S for producing a small range of toys is ridiculous when every single shop on the high street is selling mountains of stuff nobody really needs.

The toy industry is as bad as the clothing industry, electrical appliance industry, furnishing industry (I could go on) . They're all producing stuff that will end up in landfill. The world is full of rubbish. Nobody really 'needs' this stuff.

I think it's been a very badly thought out idea, most people won't take the toys back to the shop to recycle them they will end up in landfill. And there are so many other plastic childrens toys out there why add to the collection? I do like the little shopping baskets/trolleys but that's so far as it goes.

the problem is that M&S have stated that they will reduce unnecessary plastic, then came up with these giveaway, throwaway 75% plastic toys and a flawed recycling plan relying on them being returned to the store to be recycled.

As a mum, I am appalled that a trusted brand with eco-credentials is running this promotion and have boycotted M&S until they see sense.

Did you really buy into M&S's eco campaign?
They are a huge corporate company with a carbon footprint off the scale

(Along with every other high street chain).
People are happy to buy produce from their food hall (hard to find anything that isn't wrapped in plastic or in a plastic tray) yet are horrified when they produce a small range of toys as a promotion??

Aside from the plastic issue, its just a shit promotion.

agree that their approach to plastic still has a long way to go in terms of food, but they can't say they are reducing plastic, whilst at the same time giving away a load more of it at the tills. we have to start somewhere and this sends the wrong message to our kids.

M and S have always over packaged things and it was noticeable that they used more packaging than other shops way before climate change became the current emergency. Their token effort to being eco used to be a label on clothes that said wash at 30° which just pushes the issue to the consumer ....luckily my children are too old and i am too poor to even consider spending £20 on m and s food but think its an ill judged idea. Even cardboard collectibles wouldnt be quite as bad.

but they can't say they are reducing plastic, whilst at the same time giving away a load more of it at the tills.

I agree. They also can't say that they are reducing plastic when practically everything they sell is wrapped in it.
I'm just amazed that people can't see the hypocrisy of these big corporate companies.
Every time there is any kind of promotion I roll my eyes. ECO promotions are the worst.. Their marketing department must think we are a load of idiots.