Has anyone really sat down and tried to figure out what these so called promotions are really all about?
They are not about the winner but a way to promote the product behind the promotion,(why would they call them promos?) for example we have had and will continue having the soft drink companies' promotions. Why do they have to take place just before school begins? Don't they know that parents are saving every single penny possible in order to pay school fees? The adverts are too attractive to ignore, so parents rush to buy the sodas, collect the inner bottle top liners and send to soda companies. The adverts will even tell you that you are free to send as many as possible!
Money is spent on buying the product, on stamps or transport to send entries to the soda company, of course more consumption on the product. The more you drink the better for the company and the poorer you get.
I wonder whether the prizes are genuinely given to the actual winners or are they part of the gimmick? 
I remember the Win-a-Hyundai promotion. It was indeed odd to find that most Hyundais were being won by Indians. It was only when someone pointed it out somewhere and we got a few Africans winning too. This also reminds me of the Scratch-for-cash promo we had years back...how people would scramble for those scratch tickets. But in the end, the buyers get poorer and the companies get richer (Personally, I think this is how Crane bank was started).
I wonder what happened to the scratch and win a house, coz I had braced myself for that one. But it died a sudden hushed death.
Office Incentive promotions are even getting more common these days. They are done as an incentive to staff, mbu. But getting the prizes after trying so hard to increase sales, is a problem. I recently had to convince a client to use our company to import his supplies from Europe, of course aiming at getting the DVD player which was the prize. After hitting and surpassing the target, my boss requested me to produce all the necessary paperwork for filing purposes, which was OK and I did. While I waited so eagerly for my prize ( I had already bought 5 DVDs which I was going to watch) my boss decides that there's no way I could win because he was not convinced! Convinced my foot!! with all the necessary paperwork, everything was there in black and white, now this? Numb*****! Catch me promoting again.
I am left to say that there is a catch behind every promo!
