To think this isn't a great idea in a petshop?

[Ninnier]

Went into Pets At Home and they were doing sign ups to the in store Vets.

I'm already registered elsewhere but was given a tote bag of goodies. Sticky note pad, pens, cards and these...

DS was in the kitchen unwrapping them, about to feed them to the dogs when I doubled checked.

They're for humans and they're chocolate.

I can't see very well without my glasses on and I could see

• a dog silhouette
• the word tasty treat (often associated with dog treats)

-the word nutravet

But the part that says 'for humans' is much smaller and white, so harder to read.

Ultimately it's the recipients duty and responsibility to check what it is they have recieved.

But AIBU to think it's not blindingly obvious these are not for dogs?

And it's a strange choice considering chocolate is toxic to dogs and PAH have a lot of 'pet safe' chocolate for easter/valentines etc

I just thought as a marketing thing it wasn't thought through very well!

Am I the only one who is thinking of popping out to Pets at Home for free chocolate 😁

I agree its badly worded and the white printed 'for humans' is not clear at all.

I think its bizarre, but I think Nutravet are a rather bizarre company anyway - for years they've made some great products that are not prescription meds, but insisted on selling them only via vets to make their product look more legit/effective/command a higher price.

They've recently altered this but i think this error with the chocolates shows their marketing isn't entirely 'general public' minded yet!

It is Nutravet who are at fault though, email them and tell them they're idiots!

At first glance I would have assumed that was a dog treat. I think even after reading for humans (once i'd got my glasses on) I'd still be questioning it as the whole packaging looks like its aimed at your pet.
And it was given out by the vets inside a petshop.
So yes, I'd have automatically assumed, oh this is for the dog then.

EVERY OTHER product sold by Nutravet (they are a company who sells health supplements for pets) is for pets. It's their entire branding. This is quite bonkers - if someone did give this "treat" to their 2.5kg chihuahua with serious consequences then I can't see Nutravet coming out of this well.

Chocolate normally contains theobromine - which is toxic to dogs, some are more sensitive to it than others. "Dog chocolate" has this chemical removed..

I've used lots of Nutravet products over the years with my dogs - I would no more think to eat something branded Nutravet than I would open a can of Whiskas to put in my evening meal.

It seems really risky to hand that out in a pet shop. There is a good chance at least some people won't study the packaging and will feed it to their dog.

Maybe they are trying to drum up trade in the vets with a few poor dogs needing stomach pumps?

I'm not ND, I can see well with glasses and aware of dogy chocolates

I completely agree OP. I saw the dog/cat and nutravet and would have also assumed they were dog chocs. The human word is more difficult to read and could easily be missed.

Yeah but you’ve heard of them because you use them. I’ve never heard of them before and that’s where the danger could lie as I imagine plenty of other people haven’t heard of them either. I don’t think it’s comparable to Whiskers as they have massive national advertising campaigns, including on TV, and anyone without a cat would know what it was, ditto Sheba etc.

Yeah there’s a lot of money in sick dogs

But those hard sweets were given out as well in the same tote?
In which case it definitely wouldn’t occur to me to think they were for dogs, because why would they mix human sweets in with dog chocolate?

There's hardly any chocolate in a kitkat

I agree with you OP.

That's what she said.

Designer/developer here. It's poor marketing. The contrast ratio of the "for humans" text is poor and wouldn't pass accessibility checks. The picture of the dog is fairly big so draws the eye to it. The natural assumption on first glance is that it's for dogs.

it's a bit "Snakes on a plane" marketing isn't it? just think of all the mentions the brand has had so far. even bad publicity is still publicity!

I'm not going to complain or anything.
Though if anyone wants to direct PAH to this thread feel free!

Why? So that PAH can see that most people can clearly see and understand these chocolates are for humans, and some others make a mistake? 🤔

There's dozens of replys explaining why.

Try reading them. Plenty of people agree with me.

And plenty don’t. Plenty can see they’re obviously human chocolate. 🤷‍♀️

All it takes if for 1 person to make the mistake for a dog to end up seriously ill or even dead.

And MANY people on here have said they would assume it's for dogs.

Looks chocolate for humans. Why you give it to a dog.

It was in a goodie bag from a vet. It has a dog on it. The font saying it is for humans is white on a light background.
All easy to see why some people would assume it was for dogs.

Did you give the dog the boiled sweets at least?

Given it says chocolate I would check carefully before assuming it was dog safe, but I can se where you're coming from about the dog on the packaging.

The ‘goodie bag’ consisted of all human items - pens, sticky note pad, cards, boiled sweets, chocolate. It was a give away for signing up to their rewards club. Why would they put a dog treat in there but not any other animal treat? The chocolate clearly says For Humans. MANY people understand this, some people don’t understand. It seems the picture of a dog makes them believe its dog chocolate - even though there’s also a cat in the picture, but no one is thinking it’s a treat for cats 🤔🤷‍♀️

Then that 1 person should have looked at the packaging, and whole bag contents properly 🤷‍♀️