A Tale of Two Stores
September 11, 2009 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under activism
My sister appreciated all of the advice on what to include in a baby gift registry. She took the list of items and registered at both Babies R Us and Target. When she finished her Babies R Us registry, the store gave her coupons for breastfeeding-related items! When she finished her Target registry, the store gave her coupons for f*ormula. Shame on Target! And what’s worse? Not knowing about the f*ormula coupons, I happened to be at Target and bought some hair bands for my older girls to celebrate the start of the school year. The hair bands were sold in the baby section, and when I paid for them, with my receipt I got — you guessed it — a coupon for f*ormula! Double foul, Target!
Needless to say, I wasn’t about to do my baby gift shopping at Target.
(In case you were wondering, I ended up buying these adorable Pediped leather baby shoes on Amazon.com. I have a similar pair for my own baby and I love the Velcro strap as opposed to the elastic other brands use).
I’m Canadian and we don’t have Target here, something that usually makes me sad because I sort of love the store. Not so much anymore, though, now that I’ve heard this story.
And I love-love-love Pedipeds! My daughter had these hot pink leopard print mary janes that she picked for herself when she was 2 1/2. They were to die for, seriously.
I am a strong supporter of Target as my husband works a wonderful job there. Does it make me happy that they are handing out formula coupons…No. But with that being said I know how much money they make on selling formula and it makes me sad that THAT many people are buying that much. What also makes me sad is the lack of support that these mothers get in the hospital, from their own familes, and from their doctors which leads them to getting the formula in the first place. I do also know that Target takes their feedback VERY seriously, respond to the surveys you get with your receipt or go to the website and let them know how you feel (in a nice way.) Target does a lot of amazing things with how they give back to the community, so please, the more of us that let them know that breastfeeding is best the better…
Good point about responding to the survey on the website! Thanks for your input!
I haven’t researched this is a while but last I did, Babies R Us sold contact information from its baby registries to the marketing companies from which formula companies purchase names of pregnant women. This is how cases of formula show up on your door step around your “due date.” I would be very surprised if Target didn’t also sell its baby registries. I got cases of formula samples when my subscription information for a free magazine and sales items at Mothers Work was sold in this way. Mothers Work (and all the maternity clothing companies it owns – Pea in the Pod, Motherhood Maternity, few others) freely admitted to me having sold my information.
I would never give my contact information to a registry or other mailing list without a written assurance that all of my information would remain confidential and not be sold. Chances are good that while Babies R Us may not have handed her formula coupons, she will be getting coupons and cans delivered to her house for some time to come.
Did you notice there are formula ads on THIS page? You can block specific URLs from appearing with Google Adsense.
Here’s a screencap.
http://i26.tinypic.com/2vwcxgo.png
Danielle, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! I have blocked many URLs in the past and I will certainly block this one as well. It helps tremendously when readers alert me to such ads, especially with a picture and at a minimum with the URL. So thanks again!
The thing that concerns me about the Target coupons is that they are always for Enfamil. This leads me to believe that Target has an exclusive relationship with Mead Johnson, which stinks. It’s one thing if you got coupons for Target brand formula after a baby purchase, but it’s ALWAYS Enfamil (at least it has been in my experience..anyone else ever gotten a different brand?)
@Elita, are these coupons you get in the mail or at the store? I never get coupons of any kind from Target – either at the store or in the mail – and I have a Target Visa Card, so Target has my address. Kinda curious how coupon “Targeting” is working there.
Hi Jake, thanks for your thoughts on how these stores market formula. In my experience with Target I get the coupons at checkout — they are printed with my receipt. I think if I buy any baby-related item (in this case hair bands from the baby aisle), I get a coupon for formula.
@Jake These were coupons I got after purchasing a baby item. They came off the register, like a receipt. They were always for Enfamil. I do not have a Target card, though, just my regular credit card. I get Target coupons to my home because I did have a baby registry there, but they are always for whatever specials Target is running for the month, nothing that ever seems targeted to me based on demographics.
So I liked what your post had to say but was confused because all over your page are adverts for formula. I know sometimes ads with google or others need to be filtered one-by-one- so if you need a screen shot to help remove them, email me and I can paste it to you.
Hi Karen,
I had already asked that one ad be blocked thanks to Danielle’s comment above, and I have had many ads blocked in the past. It’s discouraging that they keep popping up! I have gone back and edited out the word f*ormula from the post itself and hopefully that will help. If you see further ads, please do email me a screenshot! I can always be reached at angela at b5media dot com. Thanks!
I actually buy formula at Target and NEVER get coupons! I could use them…hopefully not much longer though. I’m having to suppliment but am under the guideance of an LC and I’m using less and less and now were under an ounce per feeding. But anyhow…I never get formula coupons.