Debate: Advertising in Trick or Treat Bags?
by When my son came home from trick or treating, he handed me an ad.
My son received an ad for a rental property in Florida along with his candy. He said that the person who gave it to him told him to make sure to give it to his mom and dad. I was apalled. Here is the e-mailed I sent them:
“I am writing this email to express my disgust at the fact that your company was handing out advertisements to trick or treaters last night. I cannot believe you would take this children’s holiday and try to profit from it! I am going to ensure that everyone I know never deals with your company and will make sure everyone spreads the word. To hand a child an advertisement and tell them to make sure their parents get it is completely immoral! I do not think you will get any business out of this sort of practice. All you’re going to do is have alot of irrate parents. I would seriously reconsider the way you are conducting your business.”
This is the first time that I, or anyone I’ve talked to, has heard of a practice such as this. I was totally POed as you can tell from my message.
Surprisingly, they answered me back quite quickly. They claimed that this was no different than dentists giving out toothbrushes to trick or treaters, which by the way, neither of my kids has ever received although there are dentists living throughout the neighbourhood. One real estate agent in our area was giving out coffee to go for parents but there was no advertising that went along with it. Just her normal car parked in the driveway that has her name and company name on it. But, like I said, that car is always parked in the driveway.
The person went on to say that it is hard work owning a small business run out of the home and that they have to take every advertising opportunity that comes along. They claimed at one point that they were not making a profit from it and at another point that they were. It was an odd e-mail, to say the least. It was apologetic and unapologetic at the same time.
So, what do you think? Did I totally over-react? — This has unfortunately been known to happen from time to time. Has anyone ever heard of this practice before or do you think it’s just another form of spam like I do? I’m curious to know what everyone’s thinking!
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Post CommentMichael Degenhardt
On November 3, 2008 at 7:01 am
I do not feel it is an overreaction at all, after all I as a parent am up to my eyeballs with the marketing ploys that cater to children, even in a time of financial crisis. So, any attempt to make money at the expense of children annoys me as well. Be strong and continue fighting for the right. Michael
Ancient Aspie
On November 3, 2008 at 10:20 am
It’s tacky, and you did the right thing by letting them know what you thought about it. Even if the person made excuses, it might make them think about doing anything like that again. Some people just don’t have any common sense about what’s appropriate and what isn’t. On the other hand, it’s not worth getting all worked up about. At least it’s not quite as obnoxious as putting religious leaflets in the kids’ bags.
lindalulu
On November 3, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I think that is wrong. Us as adults get enough buy this and do that, leave our kids alone!
Paula Mitchell Bentley
On November 4, 2008 at 8:30 am
It’s interesting that no one argued the other side of this or said that they’d heard of this practice before. I’m glad I sent the nasty email!
Abdul Sabour Ayoubi
On November 4, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Well, advertising is common in every corner of the world, they try everything to grab our attention. We get it all the time through our email, I would not bother to waste my time because I know advertisers they will start a different approach, which would even worse than this one.