You Win Some, You Lose Some

By Hum
in Real World News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Hum

Posted
Posted

After working as a lawyer for 22 years, Theodore A. Scott wanted a break. So he entered a contest sponsored by Gold Peak Tea, a Coca-Cola tea brand, offering the ultimate respite for weary workers: a year off work and a $100,000 prize.

Mr. Scott, 60, made it to the second round for which he created a video that was voted on by Gold Peak Tea fans on Facebook. To his surprise, he won the grand prize. He and his family were elated.

?Everybody is shouting and laughing and crying and so happy,? Mr. Scott said. ?It?s just like we won the Super Bowl or won the lottery.?

But the feeling was short-lived. Days later, Mr. Scott was informed that he had violated the terms and conditions of the contest and was disqualified. The reason given was that he had used an online contest forum, a Web site where people who enter crowdsourced digital sweepstakes post links to those contests and ask members to vote for them.

The contest, called ?Take the Year Off,? was one of several this year sponsored by marketers like McDonald?s and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority aimed at downtrodden workers looking for respite in a tough economy.

To increase his chances, Mr. Scott became a member of an online contest forum on About.com and made his pitch to the voters there. Susan Stribling, a representative for Coca-Cola, said the company declined to comment but pointed a reporter to a statement that had been posted on the company?s Facebook page. According to the statement, Mr. Scott had been disqualified for trying ?to inappropriately induce members of the public to vote for his submission, a violation of Official Contest Rules.?

In an e-mail to Mr. Scott, Sarah Tabb, an associate brand manager for Gold Peak Tea, cited Section 6B of the contest rules which states that finalists were prohibited from obtaining votes by ?offering prizes or other inducements to members of the public, vote farming, or any other activity that artificially inflates such finalists votes as determined by sponsor in its sole discretion.?

Mr. Scott, defended his use of the forum saying he saw nothing in the rules that prohibited someone from asking for votes. ?These were real people,? he said. ?Not robotics or the creation of fake Facebook accounts.?

more

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Farstrider

Posted
Posted

Reminds me of these guys who post on Neowin, 'vote for me ...'

Yeah, I can hear it now, the above types, who after they have been disqualified, would sit here, bitching and moaning for days about how unfair it was! When it's someone else, they got what they deserved! Always find that attitute amusing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing