Column: Questions regarding those alleged contests
Published 12:00 am Friday, September 7, 2001
Several weeks ago the FBI ended what was described in one news article as &uot;the apparent longtime rigging of (McDonald’s) popular cash-and-prize contests such as Monopoly and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Friday, September 07, 2001
Several weeks ago the FBI ended what was described in one news article as &uot;the apparent longtime rigging of (McDonald’s) popular cash-and-prize contests such as Monopoly and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.&uot;
As I read over this news article in the Aug. 24, 2001, issue of USA Today, several questions and comments quickly came to mind.
In the past I’ve often wondered how the big winners in so many contests could be spread out so evenly all over the nation. There seemed to be a spirit of equality and careful geographical spread involved with the addresses of those winners. Yet, as I will point out, this didn’t happen with these more recent McDonald’s promotions. That alone should have been a hint to someone at corporate headquarters that something wasn’t quite right.
A map and listing with the USA Today article indicates that 13 of the &uot;lucky millionaires&uot; over the past four years were from the following states: Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania (2), Florida (3), and South Carolina (3). This clearly shows that the Midwest, and especially the West, where there are a multitude of McDonald’s customers, were completely kept out of the winner’s circle.
One explanation for this situation is based on the Atlanta, Ga., area. That’s where the security chief of the promotional firm running these contests lives. This man reportedly arranged to sell the winning game pieces and tickets to certain people for kickback payments.
I have a hard time trying to even understand why McDonald’s let an outside firm handle the complete operations of its contests without any corporate oversight. Also, the USA Today article quoted the FBI as saying a Big Five accounting firm was supposed to monitor the distribution of the prize pieces. Instead, they let the promotional firm’s security chief run his very own McScam. (The use of the word McScam is borrowed from the news article and isn’t original at all.)
The real break in this particular contest rigging came from an informant who contacted the FBI last year. Based on his or her rather intimate knowledge and some essential details, the FBI decided to check out this apparently fraudulent situation.
Now, one has to give McDonald’s some real credit for continuing the two contests at the request of the FBI. In this way agents could collect more evidence, set up some telephone wiretaps, and start to give this whole McMess its proper ending. (Right about here I’ll take credit for the use of the word McMess.)
This alleged situation with the McDonald’s contests reminded me of an earlier contest with a really odd pair of winners.
A certain oil company set up a contest years ago with a big cash prize, other money prizes, and a giveaway of 16 new model cars here in the Midwest.
The basis for this contest was a scratch off card which was given to customers. Because of the intense publicity, those customers expected to get a new card every time they patronized one of the service stations. Thus, every dealer had to have the cards on hand during the duration of the contest.
Maybe the oil company spent a lot of money to promote this particular lottery-type contest. However, the dealers had to pay for each box of cards to be passed out to their customers.
This event, like all the other contests, was supposed to be based on pure luck. Yet, in one one obscure little central Iowa town, two people happened to be the lucky winners of new cars. This could have been just coincidence, or some careful rigging of the contest.
The oil company had a brand new dealer in this village. He supposedly had a relative in the regional office. Another rumor said the relative was in the corporate offices. Anyway, the two car winners created more business for this particular service station because folks thought good luck was associated with the place. Yet, there were some serious questions, especially from other angry dealers, regarding a contest with flawed results.
Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.