posted on September 6, 2001 11:38:16 AM new
This past weekend I stopped in to a McDonalds at Hudson, New York. I saw signs advertising the new edition of McDonalds' Monopoly Game (you'll recall that the last time around, the game was corrupted by embezzlers). Also with my meal I received a note from McDonalds Corporation full of reassurances about the new game. But oddly, absolutely no explanation of how the game worked. Normally I wouldn't have cared, but the game was being executed with no game pieces. How could a game that includes all of America and five other countries possibly be conducted with no game pieces? I really wanted to know.
I glanced around the restaurant, taking note of the numerous signs advertising that the new game was in play. But again, nothing to indicate the rules of the game, or how it operated.
Curious, I asked the counter clerk to explain how the game worked. This in itself required an act of sheer bravado, since there was a 90% chance that the clerk would not speak English. The good news is, she spoke English. The bad news is, her vocabulary consisted of "Huh?" "Wha?" and "I dunno."
When I came home, I signed on to the McDonalds website and discovered that, in essence, the game was being played like this:
The McDonalds restaurants where the prizes will be awarded is predetermined. There will be prize officials on site who will literally walk up to someone, "tap them on the shoulder" (it actually says this on the website) and tell them they have won.
In other words, by going to the McDonalds at Hudson, New York, I had no chance whatsoever of winning because that McDonalds was not one of those chosen as a prize distribution point.
I suppose theoretically I have as much chance as every other person to visit a McDonalds anywhere in America or the five other participating countries, but the reality is, most of us are limited by geography and do not have Lear jets to go winging across this great land to take our chances on winning the McDonalds million dollar prize.
Now getting back to the title of my thread, am I just cynical, or does it seem to you that this process is anything but random? Supposedly the restaurants where the prizes are awarded are chosen at random, but I'm not convinced.
When I first read the game rules I thought to myself, What a great way to make sure that the winner fits the corporate image. The on-site prize team can stand off to the side and watch the people coming and going. They can choose someone who is fresh-faced and beautiful, or an elderly person, or an underprivileged person ... they can pick and choose till they find a "winner" who will help make McDonalds look good in the wake of the scandal.
If I am cynical, the following story
does nothing to change that. Turns out the McDonalds million dollar prize went to a guy who was on the verge of homelessness. Now, thanks to the grand benevolence of the McDonalds Corporation, he has been rescued from poverty and given another chance at life.
Here's the story (I'd link you but it's on AOL News and they don't provide URLs for the news stories:
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Former Homeless Man Gets $1 Million
.c The Associated Press
HOLLY HILL, Fla. (AP) - A former homeless day laborer had a happy meal at a McDonald's over the weekend.
McDonald's corporate managers awarded Patrick Collier with a $1 million prize they said was randomly given out as part of the restaurant chain's effort to restore consumer confidence in its sweepstakes promotions.
Managers approached Collier, 35, and his fiancee, 29-year-old Sandi Fabian, as they sat down just after 10 a.m. on Saturday to have breakfast.
``I thought I had done something wrong, but I was confused when they handed me this certificate telling me I had won a million dollars,'' Collier said.
Collier and Fabian had been frequenting the restaurant for about six weeks and lived across the street in a hotel room they shared with Collier's mother. Just months ago, they were homeless, sleeping on cardboard boxes and earning $50 a day as laborers when they could find work.
McDonald's said the restaurant in Holly Hill, about five miles north of Daytona Beach, was one of five selected at random to distribute five $1 million grand prizes. Fifty people will also be given $100,000 awards during the giveaway.
McDonald's announced the promotion in the wake of an FBI investigation last month, which found that an employee of a marketing company contracted to run McDonald's Monopoly game allegedly stole more than $13 million in winnings.
Nancy Izquierdo, a McDonald's spokeswoman, said team members choose someone to receive the prize without any criteria.
``It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time,'' she said Sunday.
Collier said he already has super-sized plans for the money.
``I'm getting a Harley,'' Collier said, ``and a couple of houses.''
``And one for me. He always said he'd buy me a house,'' added his mother, Judy LaBounty.
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Just being in the right place at the right time ... yet even according to this article, the winner and his fiance had been frequenting the restaurant for six weeks. Is it a stretch to think that these two might have been handpicked to win ahead of time? That perhaps their hard-luck story was known at least in part by some of the restaurant staff (I've worked in my share of restaurants, and the staff always gets to know the life stories of the regulars)?
It'll be interesting to see who else "randomly" wins these prizes.
posted on September 6, 2001 01:09:52 PM new
I went thru the "drive thru" at the local Micky-D's, and there was a sign in the window that said to see contest rules inside. Didn't get any game pieces, or anything... I guess people that don't that don't have time to "come on in and sit a spell" can't win this contest, eh?
find a "winner" who will help make McDonalds look good in the wake of the scandal.
posted on September 6, 2001 02:02:54 PM new
Where's the Monopoly part? How do you play this game? I don't get it either (??????), but I'm happy to hear a homeless man won a million dollars. It always makes me feel good when someone that needs money wins money!
posted on September 6, 2001 03:11:32 PM new
Gee spazmodeus, I guess you're right. People that already have jobs should be the ones that win. They are obviously more responsible. Good point McCynical.
posted on September 6, 2001 03:17:14 PM new
The Monopoly part is McD's chooses the rules, the locations, and the winners. The only random aspect is what the potential winner will be eating that day.
posted on September 6, 2001 03:31:34 PM newWell, if you are really lucky you won't have to GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL...DO NOT PASS GO...DO NOT COLLECT $$$$ !!!
posted on September 6, 2001 06:12:03 PM new
Still beats what was happening. But if they gave me a choice between playing today and a buck off my order guess what I would take?
