Bounty (parenting club)

Last updated

Bounty is a promotions company, [1] pregnancy and parenting club. The pregnancy club gives advice in the areas of pregnancy, baby names and baby products. [2] The company provides a range of informational material, product samples and access to an internet forum.

Contents

The organization is headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, the United Kingdom. On November 29, 2007, Bounty was acquired by Kaboose, Inc. (TSX: KAB) [3]

Bounty’s parenting club offers information, support and products for families from the pre-birth to the pre-school period.

Bounty claims to have 2.5 million members. [4]

History

Bounty Parenting Club Bounty logo new.png
Bounty Parenting Club

Founded in 1959 by Bill Hopewell-Smith, the company was initially based in London and counted 6 employees and launched its first sample offering - The New Mother Pack.[ citation needed ] The company provides payments to the trusts which operate hospitals, and has access to new mothers. They provide "goodie bags" to new mothers and take pictures of newborn babies in many hospitals across England and Wales.

Controversy

The Telegraph in 2009 reported several complaints about hard selling techniques used to obtain new photograph contracts. Bounty stated that it operates "...purely on a basis of choice with mums and hospitals and we take our responsibilities very seriously." [5] These complaints resurfaced in 2013 following a Mumsnet internet survey that indicated similar experiences. [6]

Bounty has also recently been fined £400,000gbp for the unlawfully sharing data belonging to 14 million people. [7]

Media references

Products were featured in the television series Holby City when Patsy Kensit gave a Bounty pack to a colleague.

Awards

From October - December, 2007, www.bounty.com was ranked #4 in the Hitwise [8] United Kingdom 'Lifestyle - Family' industry based on number of visits.

This ranking relates to UK based users visiting UK websites.

Related Research Articles

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) is the UK's largest charity offering information and support in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood Since 1956 it has supported millions of parents through birth of their children and through early parenthood while bringing about advances in professional practice and public policy. The charity's mission is to support parents through the first 1000 days: from the beginning of pregnancy through to the child's second birthday.

Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust runs Liverpool Women's Hospital, a major obstetrics, gynaecology and neonatology research hospital in Liverpool, England. It is one of several specialist hospitals located within the Liverpool City Region; alongside Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, the Walton Centre, Mersey Regional Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit, and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mumsnet</span> Internet forum for parents

Mumsnet is a London-based internet forum, created in 2000 by Justine Roberts for discussion between parents of children and teenagers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Eliot Hospital</span> Hospital in England

George Eliot Hospital is a single site hospital located in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, it is managed by the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust. It provides a full range of emergency and elective medical services, including maternity services, to the local area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital</span> Hospital in England

Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital (BNHH) is a 450-bed National Health Service (NHS) hospital in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England run by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It employs around 2,800 staff. Each year it has around 47,000 admissions, sees 43,000 patients in the Emergency Department, sees around 175,000 outpatients and delivers over 2,800 babies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital</span> Hospital in London, England

Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital is one of the oldest maternity hospitals in Europe, founded in 1739 in London. Until October 2000, it occupied a site at 339–351 Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, but is now located between East Acton and White City, adjacent to the Hammersmith Hospital. It is managed by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust</span> NHS hospital trust in England

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest hospital trusts in England. It runs the Kent and Canterbury Hospital (Canterbury), William Harvey Hospital (Ashford), Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (Margate), Buckland Hospital (Dover), and the Royal Victoria Hospital (Folkestone) – and some outpatient facilities in the East Kent and Medway areas in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Hospital Lewisham</span> Hospital in England

University Hospital Lewisham is a teaching hospital run by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and serving the London Borough of Lewisham. It is now affiliated with King's College London and forms part of the King's Health Partners academic health science centre. It is situated on Lewisham High Street between Lewisham and Catford.

Dame Lesley Regan is a British gynaecologist, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Imperial College London and Honorary Consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust at St Mary's Hospital. She was the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 2016 to 2019 – only the second woman to ever hold this role and the first in sixty-four years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furness General Hospital scandal</span>

The Furness General Hospital scandal involves an investigation by Cumbria Constabulary and other government and public bodies into the deaths of several mothers and newborn babies, during the 2000s at Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Cases date back to 2004, with a number of major incidents occurring in 2008. The death of Joshua Titcombe and a suppressed report by the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust brought the spotlight onto FGH in 2011 when investigations began. Claims of medical records being intentionally destroyed alongside the discovery of major wrongdoing on behalf of midwives led to threats of closure to the maternity ward.

JoJo Maman Bébé is a multi-channel maternity wear and baby clothing retailer with stores in the United Kingdom. Founded as a mail-order seller in 1993, it was acquired in 2022 by Next and an investment group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maternity package</span> Kit provided to parents who live in Finland

The maternity package, known internationally as the Finnish "baby box," is a kit granted by the Finnish social security institution Kela, to all expectant or adoptive parents who live in Finland or are covered by the Finnish social security system. The package contains children's clothes and other necessary items, such as nappies, bedding, cloth, gauze towels and child-care products. It was first issued in 1938 to parents with a low income, and contained a blanket, crib sheets, diapers, and fabric which parents could use to make clothing for the baby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Stevens</span> British health manager and civil servant

Simon Laurence Stevens, Baron Stevens of Birmingham is Chair of the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Chair of Cancer Research UK, Chair-designate of King's College London, and an independent member of the House of Lords. Stevens previously served as the eighth Chief Executive of NHS England from 2014 to 2021. Earlier in his career he worked in the Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street, as well as internationally, including Guyana, Malawi, and the United States. He was a visiting professor at the London School of Economics from 2004 to 2008.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is an NHS trust which was formed on 1 October 2013 and is responsible for running two acute hospitals, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham, in addition to community health services in Lewisham.

David Oliver is a British physician specialising in the geriatric medicine and acute general internal medicine. He was President of the British Geriatrics Society from 2014 to 2016. He is Visiting Professor of Medicine for Older People in the School of Community and Health Sciences at City University London and a King's Fund Senior Visiting Fellow. He was formerly the UK Department of Health National Clinical Director for Older People's Services from 2009 to 2013. He is a researcher, writer, teacher and lecturer on services for older people and a regular blogger, columnist and media commentator. He was elected as Clinical Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians, London. In April 2022 he was elected as president of the Royal College of Physicians but withdrew in July 2022 after he had contracted Covid 19 and "no longer felt able to do it justice".

Patient choice is a concept introduced into the NHS in England. Most patients are supposed to be able to choose the clinician whom they want to provide them with healthcare and that money to pay for the service should follow their choice. Before the advent of the internal market, in principle, a GP could refer a patient to any specialist in the UK. When contracts were introduced in 1990 these were called extracontractual referrals. From 1999 the concept of Out of Area Treatments was developed. These referrals were not necessarily related to choice made by a patient. Specialised treatments were not, and are not, available in every area.

Marie-Louise Irvine is a Scottish general practitioner, health campaigner, and parliamentary candidate. She unsuccessfully stood for election in the 2015 general election and the 2017 general election for the National Health Action Party in the constituency of South West Surrey. She came second to Jeremy Hunt in the 2017 election; reducing his majority.

Operation Moonshot was a UK government programme to introduce same-day mass testing for COVID-19 in England as a way of enabling large gatherings of people to take place in that country while maintaining control over the virus. According to the British Medical Journal, the programme aimed to deliver 10 million tests per day by 2021.

Rhiannon Louise Davies and Richard Anthony Stanton are married British activists who worked to establish the truth about the death of their daughter, Kate-Stanton Davies, at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in 2009. Their efforts led to the establishment of the Ockenden Review of maternity services, led by Donna Ockenden. Further, their campaigning led to West Mercia Police instigating Operation Lincoln into both individual and corporate gross negligence manslaughter at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Emma's Diary is a British media company and parenting club that publishes pregnancy-related content through print and digital media. The company is also known for distributing free resources for prenatal and postnatal care.

References

  1. http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3448?ijkey=78J2PWaOGyCvWuj&keytype=ref McCartney, M. (2013). "Profits from pregnancy: How trusted organisations sell out women to commercial interests". BMJ. 346: f3448. doi:10.1136/bmj.f3448. PMID   23716358. S2CID   12886038.
  2. http://www.linkedin.com/companies/bounty-uk-ltd [ self-published source ]
  3. Business in brief: New home for parents' club," The Times (London)November 16, 2007. Retrieved February 15, 2011 [ dead link ]
  4. Bounty Statement, 11 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20090710131908/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5749564/NHS-allowing-photo-sales-reps-on-maternity-wards.html Beckford, Martin "NHS allowing photo sales reps on maternity wards." The Telegraph, 6 July 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
  6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22854554 Burns, Judith "Maternity ward marketing: Mumsnet calls for ban" BBC News, 12 June 2013.
  7. "Pregnancy club Bounty fined £400k for unlawfully sharing data belonging to 14 million people". Telegraph.co.uk. 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  8. http://www.hitwise.co.uk/awards/popup.html?sDomain=www.bounty.com&iDate=200704&iCatnum=294&Cal= [ dead link ]