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!!

There’s some serious point missing going on here.

Sod the kids I'm going to collect the full set for me - they're adorable

@Jishuwa That annoyed me too! The sizing is all wrong!

What about shitty vegan plastic leather that is everywhere these days?

The world is full of hypocrites! I agree!

Of course people shouldn't take them if they won't use them. They should refuse them at the till and there should be collection bins for those who absent-mindedly accept them and realise they won't use them on the way out.

BUT I still don't have a problem with the concept. My little ones are still using food shaped novelty rubbers with the dolls house that they've been using for 8 years or so.

Yes, they could end up down the side of the sofa/going up the hoover/getting lost in the great outdoors, but no more than Lego, Playmobil, Sylvanian families and other miniature small world toys.

Don't get me wrong, there's far too much plastic tat out there and that I do have a problem with - even expensive highly marketed 'toys' with very little actual play value. And something needs to be done about it. But this initiative of M&S' is not one I have a problem with.

They seem to have a talent for creating useless plastic crap, destined for landfill. Look at their clothes.

I don't understand how they consistently get everything wrong.

And people seem to have completely ignored that the kitchen is made of cardboard (better)! The toys might be plastic but they’re smaller than usual plastic kitchen toys (better). And the packaging on them is paper, not plastic (better).

Do you work in M&S marketing department @Herculepoirot2?

Alsohuman

I do not.

Sylvanian families last forever and are often on ebay. My DD made quite a bit of money selling hers last year (some of which were 2nd hand to begin with) so i think not comparable than cheaply made "freebies"
I also have issue with kids magazines with cheapo plastic shit on the front to entice kids to buy them.

I do get the point but I'm still in the 'ridiculous to vilify them for a small range' camp. A quick Google search shows that lego, who make nothing but plastic toys, is worth more than m&s in its entirety and no one gives them a thought. We all have a responsibility to reduce our plastic usage but a complete elimination of plastic is not going to happen overnight. And randomly selecting one minuscule range of toys to be the subject of a witch hunt helps in no way whatsoever.

Headintheclouds - there apparently was a teeny trolley that went with the set, but that sold out very fast. The trolley the boys have is a toy supermarket trolley that you would buy in a toyshop, except we found it on the roadside (it's common in Australia for people to put stuff out on the roadside they no longer have any use for - council pick it up 4 times a year where we are - you can get some really good stuff for free that way!) So the trolley is the "wrong size" for the goods, but it holds all the spares way more easily!

I see . It sounds as cute as hell, actually.

Wow, just googled to see if I could find a pic of the Coles trolley and if anyone was in any doubt about the collectability of this shit, here ya go!!
complete set with trolley and basket

The M&S trolley was cute, but it was out of proportion to the basket. I thought the basket would be useful for storing hair bands etc.

I was outraged... or disappointed... actually haven't found the right word.
Actually thought it was April 1st when I found out!
I have always been really impressed with M&S policy, quietly getting on with it in the background, not making a fuss but making changes to become more ethical.
So when I read about the toy giveaway... They are "recyclable" but we know where most are destined.
Bewildered... maybe that's it!
(The toys are really really cute though... argh!)

onlyjustme outraged and disappointed! The plastic ones (75% of the toys) are recyclable, but only if they are returned to the store, which will rarely happen. our petition now has 2100+ signatures.

@hbowyers

Hope you're going to start a campaign against CBeebies magazine too, and McDonalds Happy Meals...

FurrySlipperBoots

Hope you're going to start a campaign against CBeebies magazine too, and McDonalds Happy Meals...

I think @hbowyers had already done a great job (thank you btw - I’ve signed!) why don’t you start those petitions if you feel that way?

FurrySlipperBoots M&S are supposed to be reducing plastic, but appear to have binned "Plan A". That is why so many people are disappointed and is why we started the petition.

There is plastic everywhere, but we have to start somewhere. It is impossible to fix all of it immediately. Or should we just do nothing and just watch the plastic rubbish kill our fish, contaminate the air we breathe etc etc and say to our kids, oh well there was so much of it we couldn't be bothered to take a stand?

There has already been a huge campaign against happy meal toys and it is resulting in mcdonalds taking action.

thanks CraicMammy, the petition now has 2200+ signatures in 5 days, so there are a lot of people who are unhappy with this unnecessary plastic promotion.

Environmental issues, feminism and veganism seem to be the places where people are absolutely desperate to look for hypocrisy. You can make such easy changes to reduce your plastic intake and look after the planet a tiny bit, such as buying or making reusable wraps, coffee cups, straws etc. You can buy decent plastic toys, like Lego (I’ll wait for someone to tell me how unethical Lego is, but it’s resusable, intuitive, easily stored and passed on). You can refuse to buy magazines with easily breakable plastic tat that your kid will break/lose/stop playing with within five minutes. You can buy tubs of yoghurts instead of little tiny individual ones. You can plant seeds for pollinators, don’t leave the tap running when you’re brushing your teeth, feed your cat tins of food rather than pouches. Recycle properly. Reuse carrier bags. Don’t support shit, plastic-heavy marketing campaigns for massive conglomerates.

So many little, easy steps to do a tiny, tiny bit of good to the planet - but no, you have to live a 100% carbon-free eco friendly lifestyle ALL THE TIME or you’re a hypocrite. Such a lazy argument.

but no, you have to live a 100% carbon-free eco friendly lifestyle ALL THE TIME or you’re a hypocrite. Such a lazy argument.

Just going to copy this and repost it as it is so true!

I seriously don't understand the viewpoint of starting such a stupid idea at a time when plastic pollution and cutting down on plastic is such a key global issue.

At least for many of the other culprits, e.g Mcdonalds for their sins have the excuse they have been doing it for decades. Although even they have been cutting back and including happy meal toys that are more sustainable such as books. To start now seems so far out of touch it truly boggles my brain.

I do trust that every single person slating them can put their hand on their heart and swear they’ve never ever used a disposable nappy.

Thought not.

Hand in air and waving!