Waitrose to ban children’s magazines with free plastic toys

[BobBobBobbin]

Sorry if this has been done already - couldn’t see a thread but this seems to tick so many mumsnet boxes I can’t believe no-one else got there first.

Waitrose is planning to ban children’s magazines with plastic free gifts, because of their environmental impact.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/waitrose/waitrose-bans-kids-magazines-with-free-plastic-toys/654444.article

I’m prepared to be talked round to this as I’m normally very pro measures to improve sustainability but my first reaction was “FFS! Are small treats for children really something that needs to be banned?” I very occasionally buy children’s magazines and we’ve had some decent play value out of some of the ‘plastic tat’ free gifts. The CBeebies numberblocks sets have been played with for hours upon hours.

So AIBU to think banning children’s magazines with plastic free gifts is a step too far?

YABU - this is good thing to do
YANBU - this is OTT

Most of it’s so badly made it goes in the bin.

Kinder eggs should be addressed first tbh though.

Excellent news. Your child will get to an age where they choose the magazine based on plastic tat - although not something that I buy anymore, I would have loved for this to be banned earlier when relevant.

. Surely you can just buy a toy for your child, the mass production of toys that will mainly end up in landfill is just not needed.

Yes to kinder eggs thinking about plastic tat as well

Yes to banning tat in Christmas crackers

YANBU. The plastic toys in the CBeebies mag become some of the most used toys in this house.

I am not at all a good example of sustainability or eco-friendliness, and I don’t think that we all need to wear hair shirts and flagellate ourselves for our consumerist tendencies. But I do think we can all make a huge difference by getting rid of our taste for products which are hugely wasteful and environmentally damaging and which ultimately have no longevity and bring no benefit to our lives - and I think that when it comes to cheap plastic crap toys on magazines and in fast food, most parents would admit they don’t entertain their DC for very long and are used more as a bribe for immediate good behaviour. These things are a worthwhile target - along with other dreadful and pointless things like glitter.

Another YANBU from me. I love the toys.
(For my kid...obviously )

It's just virtue signaling.
Let's all clap for Waitrose because they care about the environment so much!

I agree, some of the toys have been played with a lot. I don’t see why it’s up to Waitrose to virtue signal and police us like this when the John Lewis toy departments are full of plastic toys.

I’m an adult and I’ll make my own eco decisions, thanks Waitrose. I’m not such a dumbarse that I need you to do it for me.

And I’ll just go buy the mag in Tesco instead. While I’m there I’ll just pick up some groceries I might otherwise have bought in Waitrose.

YANBU. These were loved and well used in our house. Although I do entirely remember being horrified by the waste. What about the craft mags that also have toys I wonder? What I do think would be great is if the magazines could find alternatives that are more sustainable. I have no idea how his would work but it would be a better solution than a blanket ban.

YANBU the CBeebies magazine toys are very good we’ve got octonaut toys and dinosaurs and have had great fun with the phonic sounds. DS also had a princess to paint from an Elsa magazine.
Some are tat on the front of magazines but only let him have the magazine if the toys is a good one.

Maybe it's a good thing that children shouldn't expect easy/cheap plastic treats. Though I expect sales of children's comics might dwindle.

Yabu.

Agree it's just virtue signalling - my local one doesn't sell certain sugary things like Vimto either (not even the sugar free version) but have rows and rows of their own-brand sweets and chocolate for sale. I do like and shop at Waitrose but some of their decisions are just blatant snobbery.

I think it's a much-needed positive move. It will put a small amount of pressure on the publications. Hopefully, they will stop including plastic tat... although I doubt the prices will drop much. As a child, I loved having a weekly magazine, but it rarely had a free gift attached. The excitement was about the magazine itself.

I've seriously fallen out with John Lewis & Waitrose today, first they announce our branch of John Lewis isn't reopening & then start boycotting children's comics with free gifts, the free gifts get children interested in learning to read by giving them stories with familiar characters they know. Many of these comics follow the reading skills of phonics taught in schools.

I think this is positive. Far too much plastic that either goes straight in the bin, or minimum use and then in the bin.

Children have had toys and educational gadgets for generations and not having them made from plastic didn’t stop their aptitude for learning.

YABU. Quite apart from the fact that we should all try not to use single use plastics unless necessary, those free toys always break. They're designed to make the toddler demand that magazine, forcing the parent to pay £5 for a pile of junk with crap content attached (mostly cheapskate colouring in). Then the toys break/disappoint and the toddler cries.

Well done Waitrose!

We had some much loved toys from these magazines! Octonauts in particular were played with for ages by my children, and are still used 5 years on by the children in my nursery class recycling at its best!

Oh god they’re going to come for kinder eggs too aren’t they? I bloody love kinder eggs, they were the ultimate treat when I was growing up. I used to keep all toys and had them on display.

Will this include the Lego magazines? The Lego gifts have always lasted as well as any other Lego we have (forever).

No Waitrose near me, but I'll give this qualified support. There's a big difference between something like Lego (plastic, but is used and reused for years, and in our family got passed from me to my niece in due course) and the kind of fragile junk that soon falls apart and rarely does what it's supposed to anyway.

I agree there are exceptions - we have a few Go-Jetters that are alive and well - but it feels like they are in the minority. If the magazines want to keep going with toys in each edition, maybe they can look at developing more eco-friendly versions?

@Skysblue

YABU. Quite apart from the fact that we should all try not to use single use plastics unless necessary, those free toys always break. They're designed to make the toddler demand that magazine, forcing the parent to pay £5 for a pile of junk with crap content attached (mostly cheapskate colouring in). Then the toys break/disappoint and the toddler cries.

Well done Waitrose!

Fun fact, you can say NO to a child Just cos some parents lack the ability, why should other kids lose out?

Stupid move, hope aus stores dont follow suit, i mean its a stupid move to reduce anything that helps sell magazines

Interestingly, schools here have access to scholastic, a book club type thing, heaps of the books come with a toy or what not cos it gets the kid wanting the book and reading

I'm really pleased about this. I stopped buying magazines for the kids because they all came with mounds of plastic tat that just felt so wasteful. It's a Shane because we like the magazines. I remember the joy of having a subscription to the beano and about once a year it would arrive with eg a wham bar as a free gift. It was so rare and special that it felt like a huge treat.

Oh god they’re going to come for kinder eggs too aren’t they? I bloody love kinder eggs, they were the ultimate treat when I was growing up. I used to keep all toys and had them on display

dd is pretty chill but if anyone comes after her kinder toys, she will riot lol

My dc are much older, and we didn't get magazines much, but when they did it was entirely chosen by the plastic rubbish on the front, not by the magazine. The plastic tat brought them a lot of pleasure. I suspect what that will mean is that parents will get the magazines from elsewhere.

I have to say though I did feel a little like when I see the teenagers spoiling something at the park, and remember how they used to love going to the park at 5yo. They had the enjoyment from it when they were young enough to play in it, and now they're older they're not bothered if the younger ones aren't able to play the way they did.