MEDIA RELEASE
Parents ask for a break as Easter eggs hatch early
19/01/2016
As supermarkets across the State fill their shelves with Easter eggs, West Australians are becoming tired of the retail cycle that makes festive seasons a 365-day affair.
LiveLighter asked West Australians to go on the hunt for Easter Eggs being sold in their local supermarket, and received a flood of responses within hours. Respondents said more than 20 Easter products have hit supermarket shelves, as early as December 2015.
Prue Higginson from Secret Harbour was astonished: “[Easter eggs are] right next to their Christmas Clearance. Just ridiculous.”
Large promotions strategically placed at the end of supermarket aisles attract the eyes of toddlers and children, in an attempt to use pester power to improve retail sales.
“Shopping with my kids is a nightmare affair without the added stress of a pestering child demanding a brightly packaged cartoon-themed chocolate egg – especially when I am trying to provide healthy, nutritious food for my children and stick to our tight grocery budget,” said mother of three Clare from Aubin Grove.
LiveLighter Nutrition Manager Amelia Harray said: “The marketing and promotion of junk food high in sugar and fat is out of control, preying on families and children. It’s not about what we do on special occasions, it’s about what these promotions encourage us to do the other 363 days of the year.”
Ms Harray said kids’ pestering could be quite stressful and even embarrassing for parents, who want to provide nutritious food and may be on a tight budget.
She said research from the University of South Australia showed Australian parents gave in to pester power 26 per cent of the time when shopping with children1.
“Retailers are using one day of festive celebration as an excuse to heavily promote junk food to adults and children months in advance of the actual event, in-store or online,” Ms Harray said
“With one in four Australian children overweight or obese, and two in three adults the same, it’s concerning that retailers are bombarding West Australians with more junk food and using pester power tactics, which inevitably lead to an in increase our already expanding waistlines.”
According to a 2015 IBIS World report released recently2, Coles and Woolworths command almost three-quarters of the supermarket sector, so hopping pass the Easter Egg promotions with pint-sized pesterers is no easy task.
LiveLighter is calling on supermarkets to stop the endless cycle of festivity promotions, and take small steps to help parents avoid pester power, such as providing confectionary-free aisles.
For more tips, recipes and advice, visit the LiveLighter website www.livelighter.com.au.
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Media contact:
For media enquiries please contact Elizabeth Palmer, Communications Manager, on 08 9382 5935 or Elizabeth.Palmer@heartfoundation.org.au.