Irresponsible Animal Promotion: Free hamster with Purchase


Status
Not open for further replies.
I hope whoever don't need a hamster wouldn't redeem it.
 

Sad to say, there's nothing that the SPCA here can do.

Also, nothing illegal is going on, technically, IIRC.

In Singapore, livestock is considered a commodity, and can be traded, bought, sold and given away. It's been going on forever at pet shops and puppy farms.

Even if you contacted the proper authority, the AVA, there's nothing much that they can do if no laws are contravened. Extremely overwhelming public outcry, and if it's widely publicised through the net or media, may get something done, but I doubt if it would set a precedence.
 

hopefully spca can talk them into giving up this free hamster promo. i've emailed spca about it.
 

This is the same as parents buying dogs for their children when the children insist.
When the children are bored already, the dogs are abandoned. ;(
 

Horrible merchant.

Even if times are bad, one dont have to sacrifice livestock that way. :thumbsd:
 

Horrible merchant.

Even if times are bad, one dont have to sacrifice livestock that way. :thumbsd:

Agreed.

The problem is what they're doing is perfectly legal, and have been done for ages. Look at all the pet stores selling livestock, and the puppy mills etc that AVA allows.
 

there used to be posters telling people pets are not gifts, they r living. and i support that.

than look at it from another angle, if everyone does that, pet shops got business mah?
 

there used to be posters telling people pets are not gifts, they r living. and i support that.

than look at it from another angle, if everyone does that, pet shops got business mah?

Nope. Business will suffer if anyone listened, but then again, most people don't want to know reality or bad news, or news that don't fit their likes or their ideas, so they just ignore it and go ahead with what they want to do.

Why do you think pet stores and puppy mills are such booming business? At the end of the day, it's purely a matter of $$$ for some.

BTW, google 'puppy mills' if you want to know where that cute little puppy in the pet store window came from. Be warned, your heart may be broken.
 

Wats the purpose of giving away lifestocks in the first place, its not like going to the market buying a live chicken and get another for free?
 

It's the emo factor they're capatalising on Loonar.
 

Last edited:
Yes, it's sad. Anything to make $$$. Even areas like the educational and medical fields are not immune to the $$$ syndrome but that's life I guess.
 

It is a sponsored by a pet shop (Pet Station) anyway, and the hamster gift is only applicable if someone spends $35 on products for small animals, according to the fine prints. So even though this is not the best idea in the world, they seem to be targeting only a certain group of consumers (people who already have small animals as pets?). It is not like they are giving hamsters to customer who go there to buy a camera or a bicycle.
 

Last edited:
Agreed, I don't see what the big fuss is. In fact, it is a rather ingenious marketing tactic because after getting the free hamster, you end up buying the cage, the pet food etc etc.

If the promotion was "buy a hamster and get S$35 of hamster products", suddenly everyone will find it more palatable. However, it actually amounts to the same thing.

It is a sponsored by a pet shop (Pet Station) anyway, and the hamster gift is only applicable if someone spends $35 on products for small animals, according to the fine prints. So even though this is not the best idea in the world, they seem to be targeting only a certain group of consumers (people who already have small animals as pets?). It is not like they are giving hamsters to customer who go there to buy a camera or a bicycle.
 

Agreed, I don't see what the big fuss is. In fact, it is a rather ingenious marketing tactic because after getting the free hamster, you end up buying the cage, the pet food etc etc.

If the promotion was "buy a hamster and get S$35 of hamster products", suddenly everyone will find it more palatable. However, it actually amounts to the same thing.

No one will qn that its an ingenious idea.

But the fuss is the moral issue of giving a live object as a gift, and not the original intent of purchase. The issue here is about making it almost too easy for someone who has not thought through the responsibilities of hamster ownership. A cute hamster free to bring home is almost too tempting for anyone.

Of course, its less an issue if a hamster owner bought $35 of hamster pdt, and can decid eif he wants another, but thats not the qn here.

However, I doubt there will be a similar fuss if a live market fish for dinnar is given instead..:bsmilie:
 

Status
Not open for further replies.