I am not so sure that you ( Real World Man) have this exactly right in this instance . The RHS is very much “out there” and house plants (or plants grown inside the house) are very much part of the 20-40 ( yr old) lives ( they are very proficient at the hydroponic production of “Skunk” (or weed) . It is this age group who will have the children (ages) that are the target of the Halloween Industry. As an alternative to Fireworks, Halloween is a winner everytime for a Garden Centre Retailer.

Many years ago I gave up retailing Fireworks and then put the effort totally into Halloween instead. It requires no Licence, no special storage facilities, no exclusion of certain ages from purchasing and if its done well enough, it will generate as much as Fireworks ever will, without upsetting all your animal loving regular customers. I agree the RHS are a little slow and the campaign is not quite good enough to properly promote houseplants as part of Halloween, but its a start (they can only learn). The great thing is, it’s a “Green Campaign”, promoting life, that produces the stuff that allows us to breathe. Sometimes its for us the Retailers to take these ideas and in reality (Real World Man) do them so much better on our own shop floors !

How very middle class! 99% of people who celebrate Halloween have never heard of The RHS, don't do fancy indoor plants and generally enjoy the plastic tat that goes with the event. Furthermore, announcing this to the trade three and a half weeks before Halloween doesn't really give much time to prepare.