Contests = Prizes, Right!?

A contest is a competition where the winning participant gets the advertised prize. A contest where participants submit entries, yet the promoter fails to deliver on the prize would be called a scam. A rant is what happens when a contest entrant gets scammed out of two prizes in one winter. This paragraph could be considered a warning.

First stop, Snowboarder Magazine, late-October. Snowboarder likes to have contests where you submit your own caption to one of their pictures. They do it every month. Recurring traffic and all that. They give away prizes from their advertisers. I like to write and I like free shit, so I enter and I win. Check it out (a screen grab from Facebook, so I don't have to link them).

"Congrats to Graham Mueller..." That's me. Where's my prize!?

Turns out, I don't really win, though. After a couple e-mails with their sales and marketing manager, he stops responding. I leave a few comments on their Facebook page. The only people who answer are two other guys who 'won' the caption contest and never got their prizes. Snowboarder Magazine's Open Caption contest is officially a scam. Let's hope there's an explanation for this one because I'm on good terms with everyone I know at Snowboarder. They're good folks.

Next up, Transworld Snowboarding and 686, mid-November. Right about the time I 'won' that first contest. Clothing company 686 does a ton of contests in November around what they call 686 Day. I don't know what day it is or what it means, only that it involves my favorite type of stuff, FREE STUFF! This year they get together with Transworld and have a little writing contest. Talk about your favorite place to ride.

Who won? No won.

  
Simple. I fired that one off immediately. Solid gold, too. Now here's where, a few days later, they post the winner on their site and give away the free pants. Only they never posted anything. After a week, I started with the e-mails. That's just the kind of kid I am. No reply. So I sent them another reason I should get those pants.

I'm just that down for the cause.

Yup, 2002 Smarty Cargoes and a signed Patrick McCarthy poster from '06. The Shaun McKay poster wouldn't fit in the picture. Seriously, these posters hang immediately to my right as I sit here typing. Sent it to the 686. Nothing. So, I sent a picture of me wearing the pants. Around my ankles. As I mooned them. Turns out, dingleberries get attention. Just kidding. Made that whole part up. I never heard anything from Transworld or 686. Scam? Possibly.

Bigger question: How often does this shit happen? Big magazine runs contest sponsored by big advertiser. It's good for both of them and for the lucky punk who wins the contest. So many entrants just fill out the form and forget about it. Someone else won, no big deal. Only nobody won. Advertiser still gets the eyes, but doesn't have to deliver on anything. Pretty mediocre as conspiracy theories go, but it's got some meat. At least with little kids like me who want their free stuff.

Anyone else have experience with this? Win or lose? Drop me a comment and I'll tally the total. Then I'll select one random commenter to win a six day, seven night trip to Chamonix. Yeah, right.