Stupid marketing stunt?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41411781

Sainsburys under fire from dog owners after it sends out free smaples of chocolate through the post.
At least 3 owners have spent worried hours at the vets after their dog consumed the choclate that arrived unannunced in the post..

Does sainsbury's have any liability in this ?

We have a double door'in the hall now so Murphy cant get to the post but years ago when Remy was a devil for snatching things I had a set up with a pillowcase attached to the back of the letterbox just to keep him and my post safe.

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

There is so little chocolate in chocolate there’s very little risk tbh

My old cocker spaniel had always been as good as gold, not taking what wasn’t his etc, until one Christmas Eve. We were having family for Christmas Day, decorated the house, put lots of roses and quality street in little bowls around the house etc, went out for two hours

Came home and yep, Gunnar had eaten at least 2lb of chocolates

An emergency visit to the vet and we were told all will be well. Not enough cocoa in Cadbury and rowntrees to worry about. They made him sick and the only side effects were multi colored poos for two days

And surely dog owners should have dogs trained not to eat the post or to hang a mail basket ?

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

I might be wrong, but I would imagine Sainsbury's is not in the slightest responsible.

How can they be held responsible for someone allowing their dog to get to the post?
What if the dog chewed up the electricity/gas/telephone bills - or any other post, who's fault would that be?

Sorry, but if you have a dog likely to nick stuff like that, you should have one of those baskets fitted on the back of the letterbox or even have an outside box fitted.

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

People panic sadly, but as been said unlikely any harm done, but when we had a post chewer we made sure he couldn't get to the post and all dogs since have had no access to it. If you have a dog it is your responsibility to keep it away from things might harm it, in this case chocolate but what if someone put something nasty through your door that really could harm a dog ? You do hear of people putting awful things through doors maliciously ....

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

He who must obey has just phoned at his usual time to check on me and I was telling him how I had walked out of the bathroom this morning to find that someone had put a pamphlet through the letterbox and my two tiny terrors had had a field day tearing it into a thousand pieces. He then told me it is not as bad as what has happened with Sainsbury's.
He told me he was just reading his paper during his break and saw this story

Apparently, Sainsbury's sent out a promotional mailshot with samples of Green & Black chocolates to customers on its mailing list, and guess what, like my two terrors with the post that lands on the hall floor, the customer's dogs got to the chocolates first!! quite a few have had to take their pets to the vets to have their stomach's pumped. One customer said that it was a good job she had two dogs as they shared rather than one devouring. What makes it worse surely is that isn't Green & Black chocolate dark chocolate? deadly for dogs.

Sainsbury's have said that customers with pets should never have been sent the samples. HUH HO. Trouble ahead for them! and that must have been so frightening for the pet owners.

Apparently it's on Sky news and most of the papers!

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

That's ok.....Waitrose are just poisoning humans......nothing to worry about.....no kids hurt

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

I'm slowly going off chocolate Julie, what with Sainsburys and Waitrose!

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

My experience with chocolate orange in another thread, has made me rethink chocolate altogether. It really isn't as good as it used to be I don't think I'll miss it.

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

Sorry Shroppy, but I'm sticking to my guns on this one.

How on earth are Sainsbury's supposed to know which of their customers have dogs/cats/parrots etc?

Our dogs are not Sainsbury's responsibility at all.
It is up to us owners to keep our animals safe.

It is like saying if someone walks their dog through a market and the dog nicks a carrot and chokes to death on it,
blame the stallholder.
Owners must teach their dogs not to thieve - like the subject of food refusal we had the other day on here - or if they know jolly well they will steal, as I said before, it is our responsibility to minimise the risk and put a basket on the back of the letterbox.

All sorts of gifts could come through our door on birthdays or with Christmas approaching, would your relatives or sender be blamed if the dog ate those as well?

Owners must take responsibility for their dog's safety.

Re: Stupid marketing stunt?

I have to agree with others on this one, I think Sainsburys did not maliciously post the chocolate with the intent of hurting dogs..

And we as owners do have to take care , as I mentioned my door wouldnt allow a conventional basket or box so we fitted a pillowcase to stop Remy getting post.


Can we take it that the complaints are yet more indication of our growing compensation society?