Dear Boy Scouts of America, Shoot!
Dear Boy Scouts of America,
My son is a seven year old Wolf Cub in California. His troop sold your popcorn to make money for your organization. I felt bad about selling such a terrible product, what with the GMO corn that is now linked to infertility and the high fructose corn syrup that is a main contributor to obesity and diabetes - avoidable conditions his troop leaders emphasized during the Food Pyramid meeting last year.
I felt bad each time my son, suited up in his blue polyester uniform with badges this non-ironing mom had safety-pinned to his sleeves, rang a neighbor's doorbell and asked them to buy popcorn. What was I doing letting my son sell this crap to people? He didn't even care about the fund-raising part of it. He just wanted to choose a prize from your vast pictorial prize sheet.
First he fixated on the temptingly pictured iPod, until I pointed out that it was sitting in a cradle with speakers and that the iPod didn't actually come with that prize. It was just a tease.
When he'd finished selling almost $600 of your over-priced popcorn - and believe me, more than one person was taken aback by the $16 price tag on the smallest Cool-Whip sized tub - a troop leader sent an email stating my son could choose a prize, one of them being a bow and arrow. This is where I began to have a huge problem with your popcorn sales.
Now, I recall seeing a bow and arrow on your prize form, but the form was lost at this point, so I imagined the toy - we are talking toys here, aren't we, since my son is only seven - would have suction cups on the ends of the arrows.
Imagine my surprise when my son came home from his last Wolf Cub meeting with a real weaponized bow and arrow capped with steel studs. There were no suction cups anywhere and no safety features. I remember as a child using a similar bow and arrow on a supervised range at sleepover camp - the arrows made a satisfying pop through the paper target, then a muffled sound as they penetrated deeply into the hay bales.
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