Are British parents really so stupid that they wouldn't see that packaging and instantly realise it's branding guff aimed at kids, and that the stuff inside came out of the same vat as the 'value' meal down the aisle for £2 less?

Couldn't agree more- I think it's quite patronising to think that any parents might think that any product that actually made the supermarket shelves would actually contain something that was genuinely harmful for their kids.

Imagine the outrage back at every family home in the uk following a trip to the shops-

'But it had a skull on! I couldn't buy that. It definitely wasn't bland tasting yet harmless food, although it did have some branding on it that might appeal to the kids. When the police find out Asda have stocked poison in the guise of a ready meal there'll be hell to pay!!'

This is why I don't get the outrage over the skull... No-one with any sense would see Deadly Dinners on the shelf in the Ready Meal aisle of the supermarket and think it was actually poison being sold.

Well, it's not as bad as the idea that parents wouldn't buy the Comfi-Curve because the mother was black and the baby was white on the box...

And therein lies the problem

A lot of products (e.g. clothing, stationery) have had skulls on them for a few years now. Just like one of the focus group mums, I never buy them for my kids. I have put things back that I might otherwise have purchased. And no, I don't think they are poisonous, just unpleasant and irrelevant to me. We all have different ideas about these things, so neutral is safer if you want to appeal to the widest possible market.

So there you have it.

Indeed not, but I might worry about conditioning my child to believe that anything marked with a poison symbol (skull and crossbones) is edible.

Even without the poison connotations, we are left with Leah's complaint that it looks like a seasonal, halloween item.

Disagreeing about the use of a skull on a food product does not equate to having no sense.
I've got lots of sense and I dislike the imagery.
Hope thats clear enough for you.

Some people on here struggle with the concept that another person can be intelligent AND have a different opinion to them (despite having led a completey different life to them and therefore having had different influences.)

Ain't that the truth.
To me it is a big no-no to brand a food product as a poison.
Am I actually missing something?

Have a good day.

And you! Time to go do something constructive....

Wow...........you were quick.

I'm off now.

Pontificating is easier than working, isn't it?

If you let your young child have access to poisons then the packaging of a ready meal is the least of your worries...

I've been surrounded by skull products since I was a baby and yet I managed get through GCSE and A-Level Chemistry without ever trying to eat, drink or wear any poisonous chemicals.


And yet the fact that there are so many skull products available would suggest that they do sell well and do appeal to a wide market...


I didn't say that it did equate to having no sense... I said that anyone who saw a ready meal on a supermarket shelf and thought it was actually poison because of a skull on the packaging, has no sense.

If you saw Deadly Dinners in the ready meal aisle of Waitrose would you think that there was poison in the meal? If yes, then you have no sense. If no, then my comment doesn't apply to you.

Get it?!

While that is certainly true I was sharing the kind of perspective that may lay behind the supermarkets' reasoning behind rejecting the skulls. It is obviously a divisive choice.

Ok. Good luck with your my-kids-love-skulls-so-everybody-else-who-doesn't-must-have-no-sense view of this world.

Where at all have I said that?

Are you deliberately choosing not to read what I actually said because you're looking for an argument? Or are you just incapable?

Well, it's not that I'd believe that a ready meal called deadly does contain poison or something... but people that find it off-putting do have a point. There are plenty of symbols and words related to creepiness that don't lead to confusion such as vampires, frankensteins, zombies, bats, ghosts, witches, clowns, Simon Cowell...

I totally agree and I have no issue with people who dislike the imagery, we all have different tastes and preferences... I just have an issue with people twisting my words and making out that I said anyone who doesn't like skulls has no sense, which I clearly didn't say.

Yes, but they might think bleach is just dastardly lemonade!

What responsible parent would allow their young child to have access to bleach?

Even without Deadly Dinners and its packaging, letting kids near bleach is a recipe for disaster.

There are kids flasks, lunch-boxes and water bottles readily available in many stores which have skulls on them... And yet I've never heard anything about a child who has one drinking bleach.

It's one thing to dislike skull imagery, that's just personal choice, but to suggest that using a skull is a safety issue is a bit ridiculous IMO.

I think you make a very good point bob. I know nothing about the ins and outs of the law, etc, but have always associated that sign with poison. Why confuse the issue?

Oi you............when in a hole its good policy to stop digging imho.

Seriously?! Learn some manners.

I think it was more to do with the supermarket companies not wanting to look bad in front of a national audience.

In real life, Alex's product might well have won, but no supermarket could be seen to be endorsing to the use of "pester power" - even though they all do it.

Of course, that cuts both way, since they might not have been so concerned that the other team's product tasted awful.

I wonder if they'd of made it using hello kitty would parents think theres a cat inside thats going to greet them inside the package and complain to the RSPCA? the problem is that a lot of parents are 1 dimensional.....if i put "contains organic ingredients such as digitalis and strychnine" on the front of the package i'm sure a lot would go ooh organic and put it in the trolley if it had a nice flashy package