A Victorian primary school is telling its students to leave Coles’ collectable toys at home, saying they’re leading to bullying, fighting and stealing.
Peter Adams, principal at Pascoe Vale Primary School in Melbourne’s north, has slammed Coles over their Little Shop promotion, calling it ‘genius and (an) absolute disgrace’.
In the school’s most recent newsletter, he urged parents to prevent their children from bringing the plastic toys to school, citing a series of fights over them.
Other schools are also being forced to deal with instances of theft, organising swap meets to help students collect the full set, the Herald Sun reports.
A Victorian school is slamming Coles for their ‘Little Shop’ promotion, saying it is causing bullying on the playground
Peter Adams, principal of Pascoe Vale Primary School (pictured) says that teachers can’t even tell the difference between a stolen and a lost toy anymore
Mr Adams says the toys are creating headaches for teachers, with students reporting theirs as being either lost or stolen.
He says it’s gotten to the point where they can’t tell which is stolen and which is lost.
Parents are concerned that their children are being bullied, which is why Mr Adams has put the toys in the same category as mobile phones and other valuables; safer left at home.
Other schools are embracing the toys, using them as teaching tools.
Creswick Primary is urging its students and parents to save any collectables that are not wanted and donate them to the office so they can be used for students to learn money and ‘play shops’ during maths lessons.
Other schools are embracing the promotion, using the toys (pictured) to teach maths
Similarly, an organisation in Victoria has urged shoppers to donate Coles Little Shop items to help disabled people with simple tasks.
Distinctive Options, a disability service provider in Melbourne, says the mini collectables are a perfect tool to help the disabled communicate.
The supermarket giant has embraced the collectables, which are said to be responsible for a recent uptick in their profits.
The scheme was launched after the plastic bag ban in July, and have since been wildly popular.
The collectables took Australia by storm after their introduction, following the plastic bag ban
Customers get one of the miniature collectables, representing regular, full-sized items, when they spend $30 on their groceries.
However, some members of the public have complained that it introduces young children to consumerism behaviour too early.
‘Great promotion if you want to get young kids hooked on consumerism, produce useless plastic nonsense and work against the plastic free movement Australians are supporting,’ one woman recently tweeted.
Alys Gagnon, executive director of The Parenthood, is also concerned that the scheme is marketing ‘processed unhealthy food’ to children.
Some love the promotion, while others are saying they’re teaching bad habit to their children
Children aren’t the only ones fighting over completing the set.
Within 48 hours of the promotion being released, someone was selling the entire set on eBay for $1,000.
Coles Chief Operating Officer Greg Davis said Little Shop is designed to be fun for customers while celebrating some of their favourite brands they buy each week.
‘We know our customers love collectibles, so we have worked with our suppliers to launch a fun campaign in our supermarkets across Australia,’ he previously said.
They were initially due to conclude on August 28, but were recently announced to have been extended until supply runs out.
Within 48 hours, the complete set has hit eBay, with a price tag of $999, warranty included