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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To really dislike those Bounty packs that get forced upon us, whether we want them or not?

326 replies

electra · 10/09/2008 22:13

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since everything is a commodity today. But for some reason I find them in such poor taste. You go for a booking appointment with a midwife, so very early on in a pregnancy and it's an opportunity for you to be bombarded with advertisements for oak cots and so on...

I feel it's not entirely appropriate that healthcare providers buy into this kind of thing and endorse it and I felt the same when I was given one after dd2 was born and I barely had the energy to mumble 'I don't want one thanks'

OP posts:
CheeseandGherkins · 09/08/2011 19:45

Midwife told me the hospital gets 50p from each pack so I guess it's worthwhile.

posterofawolef · 09/08/2011 20:01

Its quite suitable to have a zombie thread about the lovely bounty mini sudocrem, nappies and wipes which would be so perfect in an emergency rucksack Grin

HPonEverything · 09/08/2011 20:09

Oooh no I love free stuff me.
But then I'm totally shameless...

You should see my hotmail inbox - 30 spam emails a day about baby stuff, I never read them but I can't delete them either in case there's something vital in there Grin

LolaRennt · 09/08/2011 20:20

YANBU, the implication being this is what a midwife recomends and a good mother would use. I fucking hated them really wound me up

NorthernChinchilla · 09/08/2011 20:21

Great pile of crap that went straight in the bin the moment I got home with mutterings about not allowing this sort of free advertising through a state provider.

Am awaiting first, and still in shock about this thing called 'the Bounty woman' who is apparently allowed to roam the hospital freely pestering women who have just given birth into parting with money. Will be taking special ammo now I have been warned....

Awomancalledhorse · 09/08/2011 20:23

I didn't get a bounty pack/voucher thing.
This thread reassures me I didn't miss out on anything! Grin

KenDoddsDadsDog · 09/08/2011 20:26

My Bounty photo woman was a complete bastard. Never stopped pestering me to buy the photo of poor grazed DD with tong marks on her head.
Loved the travel sized stuff though. I'm a sucker for it.

Poweredbypepsi · 09/08/2011 20:49

I liked the bounty pack just because it gave me something to do. After my last baby I was in a private room and had no tv no phone signal and no human contact for what seemed like days. I must have scanned every page of every advert to stop myself crying with boredom!

NorfolkNChance · 09/08/2011 20:50

The Bounty woman got chased off the ward after her huge arse pulled open my curtain and exposed my cathater removal to the world. I laughed so hard I wet myself (because of prior catheter removal)

hannahsmummsy · 09/08/2011 20:58

when my dd was born 15 yrs ago , you could get away with using coupons in tescos even if you hadnt brought the stuff so we got £10 off having had not brought any of the stuff , scaning technology wouldent allow that now !!

Anneni · 18/08/2011 12:02

I'm kind of scared to post here but here goes. I'm a mum of one daughter, and stillborn twins (@19 weeks but I still like to count them).

I'm part of a very small company of Mums in Northern Ireland trying to establish a sampling bag company (like Bounty in a way), a baby show, New Mum's diary etc.

We promise we will never hard sell Photographs to Mothers, not ever. We will never sell our database, never! But we are trying to compete with a giant in many ways. We do have a few companies working with us. We are trying to make our bags available to mothers just before the birth of their babies, so we can cover home births and short hospital stays and we're trying to distribute through Gp's. Of course, Bounty have every hospital tied in so tight we can't even leave a leaflet in one, the business has't even been publicly tendered for so we couldn't even try to compete. But anyway - more importantly, we'd love to hear what you'd like to see in bags - obviously the companies we deal with don't really want to give much away. Nappy creams are considered medicines now so can't be sampled- which is sad cos the dinky tubs were so handy -even back when my daughter was born.

I have listened to the comment abour Pelvic floor exercises and we are trying to see if we can run with that. We want to run our business in an ethical way, to support and help mums. Obviously we all have famulies to feed but none of us nned to drive a Ferrari or sell our company for a huge profit. So it's always a trade-off. e do want to hear what mums have to say though. So - we're listening.

Anneni

WalterFlipschicks · 18/08/2011 12:05

I have just had twins and didnt get any bounty packs :(
I loved all the freebies in them that i got for ds1
Muchos disappointment!

biddysmama · 18/08/2011 12:07

you get a sa,ple of iron drops in it now Hmm and you still get them if you homebirth, ask the midwife :)

shelfy74 · 18/08/2011 14:12

I too told the bounty woman to fuck off. She came at me with her bag of tat and woke me up, during the first proper sleep I'd had in 3 days post 69 hour labour and emergency cs. I had cried myself to sleep as ds2 had just been taken to nicu. I can't believe that advertising reps are given free reign to disturb women in hospital in these circumstances. The photo woman was quite nice though, had a go at adjusting my catheter given none of the midwives had answered my buzzer asking for help for the past hour.

onehellofaride · 18/08/2011 15:00

I like the bounty packs even though they are filled with things I don't want they are quite exciting... ditto Emma's diary Grin

orchidee · 18/08/2011 15:00

YANBU for all the good reasons mentioned before this post.
Advice to those who've yet to give birth: give fake details. Perhaps some clever MNers could think up a few names and addresses Smile

I am really Angry that she got my details from me. I thought she was NHS staff. First thing she said was to ask my name and address while looking at her clipboard. I thought she was confirming that what I said was what she already had in front of her. No mention of who she was or for what purpose my details were being collected. Harldy informed consent to sell my details to whoever.

onehellofaride · 18/08/2011 15:03

anneni what are you thinking of putting in them?

shuffleballchange · 18/08/2011 15:06

I was so excited about them when pregnant with DS1, realised they were full of shit, apart from the Fairy tablets, so didnt bother with DS2. Although saying that the dinky little baby oil was handy to have in change bag for banishing cradle cap. Its just all the adverts and 'coupons' that offer 20p off when you sped £200 on photos that were a teensy bit annoying.

Oh and the photo woman, DS1 had a tube when newborn and was slighlty jaundiced, she popped her head round the door and said"well you wont want a picture while its got that in" cheeky bitch, he was the mot beautiful thing in the world to me

shuffleballchange · 18/08/2011 15:06

*most

mousymouse · 18/08/2011 15:12

what annoyed me most was that with dc2 the papers you need to register the birth were actually in the bounty pack!
I refused to give details.

StarlightMcKenzie · 18/08/2011 15:15

Oh I love a good Bounty bashing thread. Highly unethical IMO. Outside visiting hours vulnerable mothers with unstable hormones are targeted for a hard sell.

notcitrus · 18/08/2011 15:52

YANBU.
Their usefulness was summed up by the MW who gave me my first one for my first baby with "Don't get too excited, the only useful thing is the plastic wallet which you can use to keep your notes clean and dry"!

My 'congrats you are in labour' one got lost somewhere in transfers round the hospital but we'd already established it was useless. On my third day on the postnatal ward, once I was a bit more with it and we knew ds was OK, Bounty woman turns up.
'Hello, can I take your name and address and phone no. for security reasons?'
WTF 'No. If you don't know who I am after three days here, who the hell are you because you sure don't work here! And I don't have a phone anyway.' (the phone bit always frazzles people)
'Well, I won't be ablle to give you your Bounty pack then, and it's got CB forms in, so you won't be able to claim your child benefit.'
'Don't be ridiculous - I'm sure I can get the forms somewhere else.'
'Ooh, well, I'll go ask my supervisor...'

Woman goes out of the room, forgets the doors have glass panels in them, so we watch her stand there like a numpty for a minute and come in again.
'OK, we'll let you have the benefit forms this once...'

And yes, reader, I did complain in writing. Got a generic 'shouldn't be happening, will ensure doesn't happen again' response.

I'm now on the pregnancy ride again, and the pack had even less potentially useful stuff than last time, eg ads without any coupons. There was a teabag.
Will claim the next one from Sainsbo's as you get Nectar points and £5 off clothing, but will probably use fake details. Though if you claim not to have a phone or email, it cuts out 99% of the spam.

The magazines you get in the MW waiting area have improved a lot since 2008 though - there's a strip cartoon soap about breastfeeding, and discounts/coupons for 3 types of reusable nappy.

Ephiny · 18/08/2011 16:07

I think it's quite bizarre to have sales reps and advertising people coming into hospital wards and pestering the patients. I know not everyone on a maternity ward is 'ill' in the same way patients on another ward may be, but still there will likely be women recovering from surgery or difficult births (not to mention those who might have had a stillbirth or have a very sick baby), it just doesn't seem right at all.

I suppose you might as well take the freebies if offered, though I'd be tempted to say 'no thanks' on principle. I don't for one moment believe you can't claim child benefit unless you accept the Bounty stuff!

duchesse · 18/08/2011 16:08

I managed to avoid picking mine up in my last pregnancy- proof that I'd learned the value of them in the previous 3 pregnancies... Now if one could only bar the Bounty photographer from one's cubicle in the hospital things would be even better.

poppy283 · 18/08/2011 16:09

I disliked the fact that I was given one at my booking appointment - i.e. too soon to tell work, and it's like a big sign saying 'I'm pregnant'! good job I wasn't going into the office that day.

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