Parents of young children are often warned not to trick their kids into taking medicine by calling it candy, but a Kroger store in Woodstock, Georgia, celebrated Halloween last Friday by handing out candy in prescription bottles.
The story surfaced on Reddit, where user Jenocydal shared an image of a prescription pill bottle. On the label, where a customer’s name and other information might be found, was, instead:
***HAPPY HALLOWEEN***
Responses quickly piled up, pointing out the error in this act: is it really a good idea to teach kids to equate the contents of a pill bottle with candy?
This isn’t mindly interesting this WTF. I hope someone sues them for this lack of logic. This is a terrible idea.
Couldn’t this potentially give kids the wrong message? Like that their parents medicine cabinet is just Free Candy
Right? Which message could this send? Drugs are cool? Medicine is candy?
… I don’t know who thought this up, but it’s a pretty horrible idea!
An employee of Kroger’s pharmacy department verified by phone that the store did, indeed, give out candy in the bottles.
It was just a fun thing. Just for fun, not to hurt anybody.
We can all appreciate stores getting in the holiday spirit and joining in the Halloween fun, but aside from the concern of teaching kids that sweet, delicious treats come in prescription bottles, perhaps no one considered that many kids will have difficulty opening the containers — and those who get enough practice on their treat to learn, will be able to apply the skill on similar bottles with less treat and more trick.
Kroger surely had its heart in the right place, reaching out to the youngest customer base and making their shop a friendly stop, but this particular promotion was probably not in the best interest of the kids, or the store.
Image Credit: Reddit, Jenocydal