What is Sweepstaking?

It's a form of advertising all sponsors use to "get the consumers attention"! Anything to get you to buy that product or remember the sponsor's name. Sponsors will have cents off coupons, buy 1 get 1 free, grand-openings, re-grand-openings, "New & Improved" labels, super jingles that we all know & sing (e.g. "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. I'd like to buy the world a COKE & keep it company"). Sponsors hire Super Models & Big Name athletes to tout their wares. All this is to get "our" attention, the attention of "consumers". After working a 40 hour week just to pay the bills, what does the "average Joe" have left over for himself/herself? "Nuttin' honey" (there we go again...Kellogg's Nut & Honey Cereal....or is it Post? No matter, it was a great marketing campaign & I remember it was cereal.

Okay, back to sweepstakes. After working a 40 hour week, feeding kids & dog, making the car payment, there's the electric bill, water bill, oil bill, cable bill, taxes, Susie's braces, Johnny's karate lesson, your VFW dues & any unforseen tragedy (e.g. the washer breaking down), what's left for you? I'll tell you what...over time. In walks in the companies promoting a sweepstakes! Suddenly they're everywhere! In magazine layouts, In between segments of your favorite TV sitcom, DJ's scream about them on the radio & zillions of food products you buy at the market SHOUT: SWEEPSTAKES!!!! There are trips to Caribbean Islands with a model under a Palm Tree in a Thong Bikini sipping on a Pina Colada! There are Shiny Black Cars & Red Cars & Mini-Vans! There's Scholarship Money for the kids & another product may offer a Diamond Ring for Mom! As you look in the driveway at your Pinto wagon, as your washing machine begins to knock & rock during the spin cycle, louder than Aerosmith,....suddenly those "Sweepstakes Ads" make you want a little more than "Calgon...to "take you away".

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