Lock, Stock, and Barrel - Forever

Sun, Aug 23, 2009 Butch Howard

Imported , General

I wonder how many really read the Official Rules closely enough to realize just what they are agreeing to when they play these silly games.

ALL PRIZEWINNERS: By accepting a prize, winners consent to the use of their names, addresses, voices, and statements relating to the Promotion or Sponsor or Promotion Entities, and photographs or other likenesses, without further compensation, notification or permission in any publicity or advertising carried out by Sponsor or any related entities in any and all media now known or hereinafter developed without territorial or time limitation, except where prohibited by law.

Emphasis Added.

If you play this game and accept a prize, any prize even the instant win in-store cookie or chips, you are granting Subway and any other business they decide to work with permission to use you in advertising for ever. And not just advertising of this particular promotion. If you look at the way the sentence is phrased, there is no limitation to just this promotion. It certainly includes this promotion in the list, but that is just one item in the list of all items to which the perpetual permissions are being granted.

I’m still going to play the silly game, of course. But at least I am fully informed. I know that the chances of winning even a small prize is fairly small, the likelihood of them wanting to use me in advertising should I win a small prize even smaller, and that I can make myself extremely unpalatable to the advertising in those cases even while making myself available and meeting the letter of the agreement. Should I happen to win the grand prize I probable will not mind them recouping the cost with some advertising. If I were someone with the least bit of a public persona, I would have to be very careful to not play to keep from getting entangled in such a legal trap.

I just know that only a tiny percent of the folks playing have looked at the rules and an even smaller percent of them have noticed this bit of excessive legalese.

Imported from an old blog. Some links might be dead. Let me know if you find dead links.