Last week our @loquax twitter account was lucky enough to win some Krispy Kreme donuts. It’s possibly only the second time it’s won – the first was from O2 for Echo and The Bunnymen Tickets and they were redrawn – and as the prize was donutty goodness there was no way that this prize was going anywhere other than Duck Towers. Some hours later, though, we noticed a tweet from someone complaining that the @loquax account had won: “you do realise your competition winner loquax is a competition portal listing online competitions? #insidejob”.
Took The Jam Out Of Our Donuts
Not happy with having the glaze removed from a lovely win or the possibility that someone was going to try and take the jam out of our donuts we contacted the person. They suggested that as we were a publicist of competitions we shouldn’t win. They also suggested we ask what our user’s thought. So we did and they thought our win was fine. The would-be donut snaffler then shut his cake hole! Good news. Now we thought this was fairly controversial in itself, but in fact it’s a mere drop in the ocean compared to some of the other stories currently running around.
No Abusive Language
Now Magazine, for example, have taken the dramatic step to post this on their Facebook discussion area. “Now magazine will not accept abusive language and threatening behaviour on our Facebook wall. Now magazine requests that fans of its Facebook page who enter our competitions follow our guidelines and adhere to our terms and conditions…. We expect competitions to be provide fun and entertainment and any entrants we feel are not entering into the spirit of the competition may be disqualified.” Well done to them for taking a stand against what we understand was someone who was using multiple accounts.
Cheats Shouldn’t Prosper
Cheats shouldn’t prosper and it’s important that compers do voice their concerns (firmly and politely of course). For example, someone pointed out to Bathrooms4all that one of their entrants to their Britain’s Worst Bathroom Competition was a photo off the internet. At first Bathrooms4all didn’t believe them, but after a recheck the good news is that the naughty entry has been disqualified. However, all the above pale into the sunset when you read the problems that well known comper, Di Coke, has experienced with Wow Toys. She was told she’d won £1000 in the Wow Toys video competition. A week later she was then told she hadn’t and that they’d been a mistake in the scoring. You can read the full story on her blog.
I Didn’t Deserve The Prize
The ins and outs of this are discussed on Di’s blog – and it’s well worth a read – but one comment she made does stand out.! She writes “did someone tell them I was a ‘comper’, and perhaps after seeing my blog and competition successes they decided I didn’t deserve the prize?”. Considering that someone was quick to point out @loquax over a prize of a dozen donuts, it sadly wouldn’t be a surprise if that was the case!! We hope it wasn’t and hope that the issue is resolved asap! Considering the comments being made towards Wow Toys, we’d expect to see some swift resolutions to this one. Competitions will always court controversy as promoters do make mistakes, people try and cheat or loopholes appear. However, the good thing about social media – Facebook, Twitter and Blogging – is that when problems do arise in competitions they can quickly be given a spotlight. It’s then up to the promoters to act swiftly to keep things in check.
Wow Toys Update
Good news for Di and also for another winner is that Wow Toys are honouring the £1000 wins. A costly error on their part, but the right decision! There will be some very happy (and very lucky) kids this Christmas.