Kitten with her Official 2011 Poppy Appeal Poppy
I have just payed my respects in the 2 minute silence to those who have fought or fallen in the World Wars and more recent battles. Wearing the poppy I bought from a charity volunteer of the Poppy Appeal, as I have done since I was 6 years old, I wear the symbol on my lapel to show that I care and that I have donated money to a good cause.
So why am I sitting here stewing? Having just been on Etsy and seen this…
Etsy's home page today
Sellers cashing in on Remembrance Day poppies without giving anything to charity.
And don’t get me started on the celebrity favourite Kleshna who have created brooches costing £50-60 ‘For the Poppy Appeal’, yet only give 10% to the charity?!?! If this isn’t cashing in I don’t know what is!
So you are enticed to buy one of these brooches (and fair enough, some I have seen are beautiful) and encouraged to wear it again each year. So they’ll still buy a charity poppy next year? Sure they won’t. They spent £50 on a brooch last year.
Ok, so Poppy Appeal may have gotten £5 out of the sale, but they will lose sales of poppies in coming years after this type of extravagence. It doesn’t take much to dip into your purse each year and buy a £1 poppy from someone who is volunteering their time to stand out in the cold to raise money for this amazing cause. Why then give that money to greedy jewellers instead?
So please people, even if you decide to stick rhinestones on your poppies each year or do as I did as a kid…buy lots of poppies and put all the red petals together on 1 stem, put vanity aside for just 2 days (11th November and Remembrance Sunday) and remember what these little paper poppies stand for and what they raise for charity.
1940's Pin-Up Entertainer Kitten von Mew 
The RBL have siad they’re satisfied with the deal, but I have to say I think 10% is stingy! Assuming the people buying them aren’t total b£$%£&ds you might find that they do actually put money in the tin each year. I know some of my friends & relatives have bought the enamel pins from me, but they still give, whether they want a paper poppy or not. I shall be out in Sutton High Street with my jeep tomorrow, selling poppies again, so if anyone wants one, or enamel pins, or wristbands, come & say “Hi”. Pete Marshall
I am completely aghast that anyone could be so disrespectful as to try to make a profit from poppies! I’m even more aghast that Etsy allows it. Great post drawing attention to it.
I absolutely agree! What’s wrong with everyone wearing the same simple poppy in remembrance anyway? Although the sequins do fit in rather well on strictly!!
It’s disgusting. The poppy shouldn’t be worn as a fashion statement either. If you’re too stuck up to buy the little paper ones then why bother? This will make you gag as well: someone I know well (who may or may not share DNA with me) is posting lots of ‘remember’ updates on facebook, along with lots of pictures of poppies. How patriotic of her you might say. Nope, last year my m****r caught her ironing her poppy from the year before to wear.
Claudia Atlantis xxx
as a veteran this DISGUSTS ME!