As the birth of my twins draws closer and closer, my mind is turning to the time I’ll be spending in hospital following the birth. That time when I’ll be recovering, and enjoying some special one on one time (OK, two on one time!) with my new babies. If it’s anything like the last time, I’ll be trying to master breastfeeding, marvelling at the fact I’ve created (two!) small humans, dealing with ALL THE post-partum blood loss, plus this time, I’ll be dealing with post c-section pain and recovery.
What I’m not looking forward to is that oh-so-cheery Bounty lady popping her head around the curtain and trying to a) sell me photos of my new offspring b) collect my data which then gets sold on to a gazillion companies who will sell to me via direct marketing for years to come.
Having spoken on social media a fair bit about my feelings towards Bounty, the data marketing company who pays the NHS for access to mums in maternity wards (read more here), I now receive quite a few messages from mums who are in a maternity ward and say no to the Bounty rep who approaches them in their bed. There’s no two ways about it – maternity wards are not the place for sales reps to be roaming about. Vulnerable women, lying in bed, recovering from giving birth and all that goes with it – hormones ravaging their body, sheer exhaustion from sleep deprivation and a long labour, general confusion about what the heck has just happened, frustration over trying to breastfeed for the first time, dealing with stitches or a c-section wound – are not appropriate potential customers for Bounty. Imagine if sales reps for funeral homes roamed the intensive care units. Or if sales reps for gyms, vitamin and wellbeing brands regularly approached sick patients in general wards. There would be public outcry.
But if you’re anything like me, you might feel a bit awkward about saying no, especially when the Bounty sales reps are often quite nice actually, and they’re just doing their job, right?
So if you’re pregnant and will be having your baby in a hospital where Bounty ladies pop their heads cheerfully around the curtain, just as you’re trying to wrestle a new baby onto your bosom, you can print off this poster and stick it to your hospital bed. CLICK HERE to download the A4 PDF and print it off!
This is a great idea, well done Alison! It’s so wrong that they are allowed on the wards. It’s disgusting and so disrespectful to our women.
This is a very good idea for mums in the labor wards. Thanks for the printable poster on your blog. 🙂