It does not say so anywhere on their website but according to the following link http://planningwithkids.com/2011/10/12/melbourne-cup-day-act… you may receive a free activity bag upon joining. The bag includes an activity book, ruler, eraser, pencils, pencil case, and drink bottle.
No harm in trying it's free to sign up
coming soon, "Kids Krack Klub!" comes with toy pipe, toy crack rock, sample bag of heroin and used needle. a lifetime of fun for you and your kids to enjoy together…….
yea… ill pass thanks. no deal
edit: also relevant to OP and imo something everyone should take in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79o8qiGmkOU
This should be banned like all gambling products here.
It's a kids club for gods sake. Why allow any woolies deals on here when they are the biggest owner of pokies machines?
If it were a bargain for something encouraging people to gamble on Woolies pokies, I would totally neg it.
Wonder if they can tuck some of those cigarette candies I had as a tyke into the bag.
Are you talking about Fags?
Maybe I'll start an escort agency kids club. I'm sure you would find that just as palatable?
The VRC is not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. There is a motive to foster the next generation of gamblers.
There are many other kids clubs out there that don't involve as its main focus the gambling of money. No, it's not horse racing, it's gambling. Do you really think anyone would turn up to watches horses run if they couldn't bet on it?
So, to paraphrase, it's a kids (gambling) club for God's sake.
It's no different to tattersalls teaming up with so many public hospitals Australia wide. The children aren't exposed to gambling when they are admitted to hospital. Sometimes you have to look at things and say the glass is half full, not half empty.
Horse racing's sole purpose is gambling. Woolies also sell groceries.
And those profits go into more gaming machines
So far no one has also mentioned that the industry is cruel, and kids should not be brought up to think otherwise. http://www.horseracingkills.org/
And you have no problem buying consumer goods from Asian counties where kids are exploited and treated like dogs?
Bit of a false dichotomy, isn't it? I'm not sure what sweatshops have to do with encouraging Australian kids to gamble, or whether that's a good thing or not…
I never said that. Living like an Amish is different to simply not betting on a sport that harms its customers (through debt) and the horses. I do obviously feel that it is terrible that people and animals are exploited, and I buy products that are ethically produced when possible.
Anyway, the reason why kids like horse races in the first place is because they're innocent and believe that the horses are all treated well and are having fun. Just look at how misleading the smiling horse is on the page!
If you parent, nurture and educate your children properly, an activity set that may have a VRC logo on it shouldn't result in your children gambling, and shouldn't bother you as a parent
Really lame website! I hope I get the cool freebies though. The make and race a horse must have taken them minutes to create…
Let's not make this personal. Discuss the deal and please respect each others opinion.
As adults you may see the ulterior motive behind such a club, but to the kids it's just fun. I hate the races, I don't support gambling, I will never go to the races ( nor take the children), nor ever bet on the races but if they want to give a free activity set I'm happy to accept it, and I know my kids will enjoy it, and they will never have anything to do with the website again.
Do the kids get an opportunity to whip a horse, just like a Jockey does?
No. The only way I'd ever get into this industry is if they allow the horses to whip them jockeys.
anyone who thinks this is just some simple sweet innocent gift really needs to do some serious thinking about advertising, product placement and subliminal messaging etc etc.
if this sort of advertising does not work why is the advertising industry a multi-trillion-dollar-industry?
Ofcourse there is a message but its all about how you interpret and act upon the message. We get this crap in the pharmaceutical industry all the time. There are 4 doctors in my family and I know hundreds more. They will happily use a drug company pen, they will gladly attend a drug company sponsored dinner, they will gladly accept drug company sponsored gifts, but they are under no obligation to prescribe that drug companies product and they usually don't, they do what's in the best interest of their patients. Ofcourse there are exceptions, but in most cases that would be the rule. Most educated people can see through such hollow advertising and marketing campaigns.
Interesting you should say that, Unity, here's a nice little wrap of research on the impact of pharmaceutical gifts on prescriptions, highlights extracted:
Wazana A. Physicians and the Pharmaceutical Industry: Is a Gift Ever Just a Gift? JAMA, 2000 283: 373-80. (ungated) A review of 29 studies on physician – pharmaceutical company relationships.
Gifts - Receiving a gift and the number of gifts received correlated with the belief that pharmaceutical representatives have no impact on prescribing behavior; receiving gifts of high relevance to practice was also associated with a positive attitude…
Samples - Accepting samples was associated with awareness, preference and rapid prescription of a new drug, and a positive attitude toward the pharmaceutical representative.
Industry-Paid Meals - There was an independent association between benefiting from sponsored meals and formulary addition requests for any drug that was clearly dose-related.
Funding for Travel or Lodging to Attend Educational Symposia - Accepting funding to attend a symposium was independently associated with increased formulary addition requests for the sponsor’s drug…
Pharmaceutical Representative Speakers - Resident exposure to pharmaceutical representative speakers at lunch rounds was associated with dissemination and learning of inaccurate information about the sponsor’s and competitor’s drug…
CME Sponsorship - Drug company CME, sponsorship affected presentation content in that the sponsor’s drug was always preferentially highlighted, although the same drugs were discussed in each event. Changes in prescribing practice (self-reported) in favor of the sponsor’s drug were also found…
Honoraria, Research Funding, Employment - Accepting a drug company honorarium to present data on a new therapy and receiving research support were independently associated with a formulary addition request for the sponsor’s drug as well as any drug. One study examined the impact of employment but did not find it significant.
I work in communications alongside many marketing people. Advertising works, that's why companies pay for it.
And what percentage of doctors is that relating to? It does not have an impact on everyone. I'm not saying it doesn't work. It's up to the individual, but not every one is gullible. You are implying advertising and marketing campaigns are 100% effective. No advertising campaign can be 100% effective, no matter how much money they throw. People have morals and people will stand by those morals regardless of community and peer pressure.
Lol, so how many kids is an acceptable number to inculcate into a culture of readily available gambling that's viewed as natural and fun?
For me, one is too many.
One is one too many, but don't you think you, as a parent, could get your children to see through the smoke screen?
I can tell you kids will get hooked onto alcohol way before they get hooked on gambling. There are bigger problems to address first. Most people have alcohol in their homes, many people drink alcohol in front of children, so there will always be curiosity from children. Gambling is a lot more passive, children don't usually see the parent betting or placing the bet. And gambling venues are generally not open to children, whereas alcohol is present in just about all environments.
So if you are happy to take your kids to parties , etc and are not worried about them picking up alcohol, then it's highly unlikely you have to worry about them gambling simply because they receive an activity bag from the VRC.
facepalm
doctor says "no, advertising in no way influences me in my decisions on how to treat patients"
actual verifiable scientific proof says "yea actually, there is a definable provable link between advertising and prescriptions written."
so the doctors are falling for it, but a young child is meant to be able to differentiate? understand such subtle things even doctors cant see?
you see this is EXACTLY how advertising works.
"kids" will also get hooked on heroin, prostitution, car theft… the list goes on…. maybe we should just start handing out cigarettes, booze and TAB "how to gamble" guides to them in preschool and forget all about it caus there is just to much other stuff and its all to hard to start somewhere?
Some doctors, not all. Some children, yes, but not all. That's where good education and a parenting come in.
Got the activity sets. Cool.
Star em young eh? Maybe they'll put some toy pokies in there while they're at it. Crikey.