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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
busybutterfly · 05/09/2009 21:02

Mama bags - free when you spend over £35 (!!!) in Clothie Bots or £5.

Bounty bags - free.

Hmm

QueenOfFuckingEverything · 05/09/2009 21:05

Depends what you call free though doesn't it.

Lets just consider the cost to the NHS of promotion of early weaning/undermining of BF. The cost to the planet of all that glossy paper going to waste, and all those parents being convinced they need to Buy More Things.

Its 'free' at the point of delivery but only because actually, they result in parents spending more money on things they could live without!

foxytocin · 05/09/2009 21:08

it is hard sell when they walk in with a clip board and NHS badge (which will be a legal requirement but you can't read from the bed that they are a visitor badges not staff.) and neglect to mention that when they are collecting your details to sell on to other companies.

that some of them lie, perpetuating the myth that they have to get a Bounty pack to get a child benefit form.

that as my experience below shows, they barge into your room without when you are still hooked up to 3 machines and demand your details. many other women in my state would have simply given the details and never ask who are you.

have you read the posts below? some of them are truly shocking.

PielightIsMyNewLove · 05/09/2009 21:08

Thought we'd seen the last of you, Bounty Lady

Do you not understand that some folk here might be hostile to Bounty because of their awful experiences with your colleagues?

foxytocin · 05/09/2009 21:09

it depends on what you call free. we have already paid for the marketing in the price of the stuff we buy from 'them'.

foxytocin · 05/09/2009 21:12

"It's some free crap" yes, crap is the operative word.

foxytocin · 05/09/2009 21:13

it ain't free. you are trading your details for a pile of crap.

MaggieVirgo · 05/09/2009 21:15

Emma's diary yeah, lol, had forgotten how that Put me OFF the name EMMA

salvadory · 05/09/2009 21:31

I used the word crap carefully, from my experience of the pre hospital bounty pack it was just that, crap (and out of date crap to boot) but now i know I'll possibly say no to the next pack, it's not a big deal. Surely the fact that woman with the bounty pack comes into the hospital comes in bearing bounty packs may give her game away. Even if your details are passed on again people do not have to say yes to any promo leaflets susequently received.
What I was saying before was that if a woman is mature enough to look after a child then i truly hope for her sake she can say not to a bit of baby based advertising. It's all around us FFS.
Plus FWIW i'm not anything to do with Bounty, I'm pregnant with my first child and only heard of it at my first MW visit, the pack itself has been handy for my med notes, I've binned everything else (in the recycling bin naturally).
I just thought there was a bit of 'shoot the messenger' going on with the Bounty woman. She did have a good point about the fact that many of us don't have the luxury of being completely happy with the ethics of some of the companies we work for. Personally I'd be happier working for Bounty than Shell.

lumnag · 05/09/2009 21:52

I surely must be the only mother in the country to have been in actual need of the Bounty lady and her products.
Had been rushed to hospital in the middle of the night with a sick 9 day old baby.

I was in such a state of panic thinking I was going to lose my precious DD that I had absolutely nothing with me. Next morning when emergency was over the Bounty lady refused me a nappy and baby wipe as I had been given one when baby was born the previous week. She referred to her list, and my name was on it.

Thanks to the lady in the next bed who witnessed all this and gave me her bounty pack. DH arrived with 17mth DD1 at 8am to find me sobbing with relief. It was only after many months that I was able to consider what sort of person could do this. Horrible experience.

QueenOfFuckingEverything · 05/09/2009 21:57

lumnag - hope your DD is well again now.

Thats the thing though - no matter how hard they try to blur the lines, with their NHS badges and benefit forms, they are not there to help us or do us a favour. They are not kind bountiful ladies giving out lovely free things on behalf of caring companies. Not at all. Its all about the £££££££££.

MaggieVirgo · 05/09/2009 22:03

lumnag

mumblecrumble · 05/09/2009 22:03

I still have my free samples..... DD is 2

VeeEsss · 05/09/2009 23:05

Bounty and all they stand for, IMO, are terrible. Even without the packs their forums are atrocious.

BTW bountywoman did you read 'The demise of motherhood?' I wrote it and I assure you it is sadly very true.

AngryWasp · 05/09/2009 23:51

Women 'can' say no, but fgs it is an infrigement of their human rights to even put them in that position.

What is okay and what is not? If Bounty, and photographers are allowed access uninvited, why not children's charities or people doing surveys? - I'll tell you why not, - because it is inappropriate.

Women should be concentrating on adjusting, on meeting their baby's needs, on their family and loved ones, on any hcp who is supporting them to do that and NO-ONE else.

PielightIsMyNewLove · 05/09/2009 23:55

Quite, AngryWasp

sayithowitis · 06/09/2009 00:09

Wow! When I had my Dcs, admittedly a long time ago, most of the new mums (myself included), loved the Bounty packs. The pregnancy one had some useful samples in and the newborn one was full of extremely useful things, for my babies and me. As well as the sudocrem and chamomile cream, I remember they each had a toy of some sort for the baby. In fact, I still have one of them as it fast became a favourite. I am not sure it will be making the trip to uni this year, but it still has its place on DC1's windowsill! The best one of all, though, was the 'weaning pack'. We had to go to Mothercare when the babies were about six months old and we were given a great box which was stuffed full of samples of baby foods ( bothe the powders and tins/jars), a commemorative 'my first jar of marmite' ( which I still have, well, the empty jars obviously)and I think there was a story book as well. Certainly there was much more useful stuff than advertising in all the bount packs I had. It was in the days before the internet so maybe people had fewer opportunities to get hold of 'freebies' unlike now when with a click it is possible to get hold of all sorts of sample products.

It is sad to read some of the stories on here, because, when I was a new mum, Bounty really was something worth having. And I don't recall there ever being a problem about giving names and addresses etc.

foxytocin · 06/09/2009 02:44

"if a woman is mature enough to look after a child then i truly hope for her sake she can say not to a bit of baby based advertising. It's all around us FFS."

Put more nicely than my last post: You are overestimating the abilities of a large percentage of women in the UK. And I am not being sarcastic here. You do need hope.

AngryWasp · 06/09/2009 03:14

If a new mother is immune to marketing activity, then they wouldn't spend £££££££££££ doing it would they?

foxytocin · 06/09/2009 03:20

Morning waspy. I'm up because dd1 was scratching her eczema. what is your excuse? in fact, going back to bed soon or will be paying the price in the AM.

foxytocin · 06/09/2009 03:25

sayithowitis, the Bounty pack I got 5 yrs ago despite not wanting it was full of crap. It had one nappy in it. Some fabric softener - I don't use fabric softener and if there was anything else I can't remember what it was. The rest were vouchers aimed at separating you from your money. Nothing seemed practical. But I am a big cynic. I grew up in a country where most parents raise happy and healthy broods with about 1% of the baby tat that exists here.

Original poster
electra · 06/09/2009 04:28

How funny that this thread has resurfaced a year after I posted it!

'No it's not a good thing - fgs the govt should be funding maternity services rather than them being dependent on letting strangers into our hospitals to stalk new mums for a fee'

This is exactly what I meant. I think it is highly inappropriate for women to be approached by sales people in a hospital environment. For me, the suggestion is that the NHS is prepared to endorse a campaign which puts corporate profit before what is in a new mother and her baby's best interests. This is why I object to Bounty.

OP posts:
AngryWasp · 06/09/2009 08:56

Morning Foxy I was writing my parental advice for DS' statement request.

This is me yawning in boredom and tiredness

Sorry DD is itchy. Hope it clears up.

MaggieVirgo · 06/09/2009 08:56

Did you have your third baby Electra.. I can't believe it is a year since you were onthe names board?

salvadory · 06/09/2009 09:56

''Women 'can' say no, but fgs it is an infrigement of their human rights to even put them in that position.''

Really?? Is the Bounty woman actually infringing the human rights of a mum to be by asking her for her details in exchange for money off coupons??
I can think of many more abuses of human rights that I'd get a lot more worked up about than an unsolicited call from the Bounty woman.
A woman can specifically ask for anyone she doesn't know to leave her alone and she can also ask who it is who is taking her details should someone she doesn't know come along.
If she does give her details and receive a pack of vouchers do you think she'll feel as though she's had her human rights infringed? (and if she does can she not write to bounty to have her details removed??)

In response to this from Foxytocin : 2Put more nicely than my last post: You are overestimating the abilities of a large percentage of women in the UK. And I am not being sarcastic here. You do need hope.2

I find this so incredibly patronising I almost think you were joking whilst typing. Are you honestly suggesting that we should limit some womens access to advertising as their 'abilities' to respond to advertising messages are limited. FGS what's the worst that can happen? Perish the thought that some poor woman who doesn't appreciate that fabric softener or Johnsons Baby products are the Devils own (??) and may actually use her samples?
Lets go back to the nanny state and only those women who dress in Boden and buy organic are allowed advertising whilst the rest of the proles can have their access to everything severely limited 'for their own good' mind. In fact lets go one step further and not allow 'these women whose abilities I'm hugely overestimating' to have babies.