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| Brits: A Nation of Lazy Last Minute Scrooges? Wicked Uncle, the specialist toy e-tailer aimed at adults who struggle to buy children's presents, has released the findings from a study into Great British present buying habits and perceptions around children's gifts. The study found that just over a third of us only buy presents for people that we deem likely to give a gift reciprocally. Furthermore a third of UK adults admit to feeling intensely and unfairly pressured into buying gifts for their nieces and nephews. Purchasing gifts for children within families remains a hot topic and source of antagonism for many. Over three quarters of all those surveyed admitting to forgetting a child's birthday. Michael O'Shea, founder of Wicked Uncle says: "The problem of deciding what to buy for a child is huge. Making the wrong decision can cause all sorts of outcomes and lead to fraught family relations. Our study found that half of all presents for children are bought within a week of being given and a whopping one in three buy on the day or day before – so the possible margin for error is huge." The survey went on to analyse reactions to a 'bad present choice' as observed by those presenting the gift. 30% of kids burst into tears on receiving an unwanted present, 18% give the sulky silent treatment and 28% throw a temper tantrum. This left a mere 14% that showed no interest in the gift at all - with 10% believing the child would use the bad gift as a future bargaining tool. It appears that Brits remain divided when it comes to making excuses for forgetting a child's birthday. Nearly half of us (48%) confess to using the staple excuse 'I've been too busy at work'. Whereas 40% claim there is absolutely no excuse for missing a child's birthday and it's totally unacceptable. Less popular excuses include; illness (5%), travel (3%), lack of love (1%)! and unannounced surprise parties (1%). The report also looked at the social pressures surrounding present buying versus growing commercialisation within the UK. 56% of UK adults feel that media hype and aggressive corporate marketing campaigns are collectively leading to an erosion of childhood. Over two thirds (68%) stated that they feel under immense pressure to spend more on a child's present year on year. However, when questioned it transpires that half of all presents bought for children are still under £20.00 in value. In contrast to this 1-in-5 respondents state that £10.00 is sufficient budget in the present buying stakes. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Computing News :: home page |