WEBVTT - How Sweepstakes Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.680 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.800 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W Chuck Bryant, Jerry's over there. 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:21.520 And you may already be a winner because you're listening 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.040 to Stuff you Should Know the podcast. I was going 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.440 to say, a version of the same thing. So, hey, 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:32.120 that's the that's the spoils of doing the intro. That's right, 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:38.800 you may be a winner, yep, chump sweep steaks. Yeah, man, 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.600 So I was aware of sweepers before that. There's this 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.559 group of people out there, Yeah, the hobbyists, people who 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:49.159 enjoy sweepstakes, and we'll talk about them later. Um. But 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.840 as I got more and more into like researching sweepstakes, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:53.920 I'm like, wow, that's pretty interesting stuff. There's a lot 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.400 more to it than even that. Yeah. I have never 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.880 I don't think, entered any contest. Well, you know what, 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.880 I fully take that back, because almost every year I 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.480 entered the HDTV Dream Home, do you really Yeah, Well 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:13.080 that's like one of the big sweepstakes in the United States. Yeah, well, 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.319 I mean every year that I sort of remember. I 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.840 haven't had cable TV for a few years, so I'm 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.399 not reminded as much. But that's one of those Like, 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.400 I mean, have you ever entered have you ever seen 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.480 those houses? Yeah, I've ran across them during this research, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.800 and yeah, they're very beautiful. Not only that, they don't 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.200 stop with the house. They'll give you like a GMC 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.479 yukon and like, here's half a million dollars in cash. Yeah, 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:41.119 it's gotten crazy. Now, you know, here's some Um, here's 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.920 a couple of snakes that are really exotic and expensive. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.840 I think they do a green home as well. Now. 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:50.560 I think there are a couple of them and one 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.360 of them, I think the green home one year was 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.080 you know, saren By here outside of Atlanta. I think 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.200 one of them was at saren By. Yeah, there's one 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:00.080 that they gave away in the last year, so on 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.360 a merite island in Florida where I've been. Um. And 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.360 then there was one in I want to say Miami 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:09.399 or something, and I write about the person who won. 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.160 Actually it was written in the Miami Herald. I don't 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.840 remember where the house was, but they couldn't afford it. 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:17.480 They won and they were like, I can't afford the 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.400 taxes on this house. Yeah, that's what the you know, 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:24.080 growing up everyone's dad basically, well, you know, you gotta 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:29.600 pay taxes on that stuff, right was I would find 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.640 a way to work that out if I want an HTV, GTV, 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.000 Green Home whatever. But I mean if you all of 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.359 a sudden were like, I don't have fifteen thousand dollars 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.440 for taxes, and I mean I think that's the same 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.920 with game shows and stuff. Right. Oh yes, As a 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.440 matter of fact, Chuck, you can read all about that 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.160 in our chapter on the Perfect Prices right Game, which 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.400 is in our stuff you should know colon an incomplete 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.120 compendium of mostly interesting things book. That's right, And I 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.720 gotta tell you of I'm trying to think. I think 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.640 of all the chapters in that book, that might be 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.560 the one that I was the most jealous of. From 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.000 the podcast standpoint, what do you mean, like putting it 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.240 on as a podcast rather than being a book chapter. 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:14.880 I was like, oh, man, I still want to do 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.000 that as a podcast. Maybe, you know, maybe one day 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.520 we can. Yeah, I don't think there's anything stopping us 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:22.320 from doing that. I think we might want to wait 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:24.960 a little while. Nope, we're doing it next week. I 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:26.960 don't want to undercut the book sales. Well, no, we 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.519 definitely won't want but well, I mean, I think we're 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.440 totally fine to do any and all that one out 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.079 of all of them will be the most difficult because 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.320 it's such a straightforward story, but I'm sure we'll find 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.880 a way to plump it up. I wonder if that 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.640 would incentivize people to buy the book if we did 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.240 an episode from one book chapter and said do you 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.200 want uh, you want more? Yeah, like how many more? 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.480 How many chapters are there? Again? For yeah, you want 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:57.520 twenty six more stories? If you're reading, get the book pleasures, 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:00.800 especially if you put it all off chord in vaguely 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.200 hostile like this. Yeah, I think that's that's that's the 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:12.320 old publishing trick hostility, right, or assertiveness when Poe moved 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.120 a lot of books that way? He did so uh 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:18.760 oh yeah, you can order a book now, pre order 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.799 anywhere you order books, including indie bound and uh, didn't 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.320 you come with the bit ley If you want to 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.200 support black owned bookstores, you can go to a bit 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.040 dot lee slash s y s k b LM in 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.039 order it from there. Uh so that's our spiel, which 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.159 actually was organic. It's not at all scripted. Don't think that. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.120 Um if if you did, then you obviously missed the 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.159 clumsiness in all of it. But we're not talking about 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.040 our book today. We're talking about sweep steaks, sweep steaks, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.279 and in fact, sweep steaks chuck. The word itself, sweep 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.000 steaks is hundreds of years old. I think they found 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:00.000 its origin at least in the thirteenth century. Yeah, because 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.000 is back then, um they were you had steak in 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:05.520 it like you would buy. It was kind of like 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.080 a lottery. You would get a bunch of people to 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.520 throw in money for a ticket and it probably wouldn't 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.240 even a ticket, and some person would win and so 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.200 they would sweep the stakes. But it's not like that. Uh, 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.800 competition in the UK, a contest in Canada, sweep stakes 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.719 in America. Those are different because they are always no 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.880 purchase necessary. That's the differentiator, right. The one thing that 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.160 they have in common with those is that the winner 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.239 takes all. That's the point. There's like a grand prize 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.479 where this this one person wins the prize, you sweep 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:42.280 the stakes, right, Um, But that is totally different from 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.159 a lottery, and a lottery is self sustaining. So much 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.560 so that you fund educational systems with lottery proceeds. That's 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.320 how self sustaining it is. With the sweep stakes, it's like, well, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.839 there's one person putting up the prize, but then somebody 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.279 else comes along and wins it. What does that person 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.560 who puts the prize have to stand to gain from it? 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.400 And that the answer to that question is the heart 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.720 of sweep Steaks, which is basically publicity. That's where they 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.040 came from. Sweep Steaks or like you said, competitions in 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.760 the UK, your contests in Canada. They were born in 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:18.479 maybe the forties fifties for sure, as a marketing and 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.279 advertising tool that some companies and salesman came up with 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.320 to basically move more stuff at the very least get 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.880 people interested in some item or product that would have 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.400 otherwise just been overlooked in a regular ad. Yeah, and 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.000 sometimes it was UM and still can be very blatant 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.919 in that. Uh the there's a like a code on 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.159 a product UM, and you like, well, this has no 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.680 purchase necessary. But sometimes you can actually buy a product 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.920 that has a code that you can then UM enter 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.479 like a UPC symbolship. Then so sometimes you do have 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.200 to buy things. But uh, sometimes it is literally just 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.120 we have and it you have to be a new thing. 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.680 But oftentimes is a new product maybe from an old stable, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.480 like a new kind of toothpaste from um Pepsident or something, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.520 or coal Gate, and they're just trying to drum up 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.240 pr and a good way to do it is to 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:19.760 give away fifty grand and get people just in that 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:24.400 aisle of the store, right, and so have them say like, well, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.240 I need some toothpaste. I normally get coal Gate, but oh, 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.679 Pepsident has a fifty sweepstakes right now, I'm just gonna 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.560 buy the PEPs in at this not too yeah, how 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:37.320 can I lose? And they hopefully from that point on 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.560 they'll keep buying PEPs in it. Right, So that's a 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.360 way to drum up sales. Um But you said something 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.040 that was really important. One of the things that differentiates 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.520 the sweepstakes on purpose from say like a lottery is 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.640 that there's no purchase necessary to win. And in the 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:57.040 United States, no purchase necessary is like just common vernacular. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.120 Everybody knows that phrase. That came from what's no inn 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.320 as sweep steakes law, which is to get around rules 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.600 and regulations against lotteries in the United States, Yeah, gambling. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.720 One of the ways that that they did that was 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.680 to create this other way to enter you didn't like, Yes, 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.239 if you bought this tube of toothpaste, you automatically had 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.840 your your entry form right there because it came with 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.400 the package. But if you didn't want to buy the toothpaste, 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.119 but you still wanted to enter the sweepstakes, they had 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.520 to afford a way for you to get an entry 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:34.120 form and enter without any kind of purchase whatsoever, and 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:38.079 then that entry had to be as valid or eligible 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.920 to win. Um, have the same chances of winning as 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:45.839 somebody who did make the purchase. No purchase necessary to win. Yeah. 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.560 The other thing is sweep steaks will do is give 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.240 you and this has changed over the years obviously, but 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.200 give a salesperson a lead. You got to get those 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.400 Glengarry leads or you're or you're on the way out 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:01.600 the door with uh no job basically. So in the 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:03.720 old days, it was, um, let's say there was like 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.320 a sweepstakes if you bought a blender. If you didn't 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:09.440 buy the blender, but you entered the sweepstakes, at least 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.160 there would be your information to blender sales people that 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.040 would be like, well they were looking at blenders, I 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:16.720 know that much or else they wouldn't have even known 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:21.200 about this these days. Um. Obviously, like with social media, 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.480 that's a big way that it's done. It's all done virtually, 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.880 so they know that if you just click on something 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.160 to enter a sweepstakes, then all of your information can 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.480 be sent to whatever company that is. And that's why 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.600 you're gonna start seeing if you enter some like ari 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.920 I sweepstakes or something. Don't be surprised when in your 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.120 in your social media feed you start seeing nothing but 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:45.520 ads for outdoor gear, right exactly. But it's it's so 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.600 it's kind of updated for the century, but it's the 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.760 same principle. You're saying, I'm interested in blenders, please send 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.280 me all the advertising you can find on blenders. Um. 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.640 And that was how it was before, when you send 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.320 in your info by hand or put it in a 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.920 box in the store. It's the same thing now when 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.640 you enter to win an online sweepstakes and you share 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.920 your contact info like that. It's just now we call 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:11.920 it data mining and rather than the blender salesman getting 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.439 in touch with you to see if you still want 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.200 to Blender that you didn't win. It's some third party 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.400 marketing company that is getting in touch with you because 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.960 your information was sold to them. Uh, because you entered 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.360 into that Blender sweepstakes. So it's different, it's updated, but 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.400 the points the same. Sweepstakes are there to increase brand awareness, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.559 to generate buzz or hype around a new product. It's 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.280 a form of advertising, um, and it's a way to 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.120 generate leads for sure. Uh. The thing is they were 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.559 huge in the fifties and the sixties, and one of 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.360 the reasons that they took off um was because the 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:51.319 Reader's Digest. Actually, yeah, read Reader's Digest, the little tiny 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.520 magazine that everyone's grandmother had, uh, and that you would read. 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.439 You know, laughter is the best medicine. And what was 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.880 the other one that was a couple of like very 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:06.240 kid friendly, regular things. The joke one meth meth meth. 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.920 I think it was meth myth meth all exclamation points. 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.040 Now there was another thing. It may have been like 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.480 true stories that were also funny. But I remember reading 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.280 Reader's Digest a lot as a kid, which is hysterical 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.200 because it's so not kid friendly. So the point is 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.040 is they go through and read magazine articles and then 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:27.280 condense them down to like abbreviated versions. Is just the 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.320 broad strokes, right, I think so, Like I never got 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:31.960 that back then, but I think it's sort of like 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.480 a a dummies version of the Utney Reader from what 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:40.320 I can tell. Man, it's so bizarre. Yeah, so they would, um, yeah, 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.080 what a weird concept? Is it still around? Oh yeah, 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.600 Reader's ide just is definitely still around. I guess it's 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.680 like the antithesis of long form where they're just like, 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.040 we don't need all that stuff. Here's the main babe. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.079 I'd like to get my hands on a reader's digest 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.520 and and see what it's like these days. And a 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:01.640 shawl nice toily because it gets a little so. Uh. 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.040 That was always the joke with growing up in my 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.480 church was whenever the keenagers, which is what they called 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:10.440 the old folks, it's adorable, um would have an outing 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.080 that the lady this one woman would get up and 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.320 say it, uh, you know'd be like July and she'd 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.520 say and remember to bring us weeater at the end 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.760 of it it didn't matter what time of year, that's adorable, 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.000 got to bring us sweater. Um. So and of course 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.480 that's a just to make fun of. Dude. It's so 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.680 funny you said, because I was about ten fifteen years 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:38.120 from now, we're really gonna backs against the wall a thing. Yeah, no, No, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.480 that's not what I was saying. Okay, I was saying, 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.600 we're gonna get called out for a just offhand remarks, 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.319 I know, and we're going to be cold both because 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:51.160 we're gonna be old, bring us sweater. So. Uh, Reader's 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.440 Digest had a a form and they were very upfront 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.560 about their sweepstakes. Um, it was preprinted, it had a 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:00.520 number there and you could just fill it out and 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:04.080 mail it back. And Reader's Digest was trying to sell 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.760 subscriptions and um, you know publishers clearing houses obviously the 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:11.559 elephant in the room. Um, the big daddy of all 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.840 sweep Steaks, which is another weird, weird company when you 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:19.280 think about it, very especially today. Yeah, I mean magazine 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.640 subscription sales. But that's where the company started out. It 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.520 was a magazine subscription salesman who went door to door 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.160 and said, you know what nuts to going door to door. 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.640 I'm just gonna drum up are brochure and mail it 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.960 out to people. And he started getting responses like that 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.640 so much so that he put this company, Publishers clearing 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.680 House together and then when they became like a household, 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.280 word was when they attached sweep steaks to it, like 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.520 Readers Died, just to demonstrate it was so effective. Because 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.240 like with Reader's Digest or Publishers Clearing House or whatever, ultimately, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:50.520 at the end of the day, they're trying to sell 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.400 you something like you said, Reader's, I just was trying 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.760 to sell you a subscription. They're attaching the sweepstakes to 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.600 it because they're they're using that age old lever of Hey, 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.600 everybody check it out. It's a big deal. We're giving 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.320 away a million dollars and also here's everything you need 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.920 to order as many subscriptions as you like from us. 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:12.280 Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Yeah, We've got Dwell, 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.240 which is no longer to my taste, like I don't 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:22.720 like current modern design in architecture and decor today right now. 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:27.600 But we also have one from L Decor. That one 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:29.560 is very much up my alley. There's a lot of 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.040 color and stuff like that. Um, we have Men's Health 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:37.480 and g Q, I think, which is not paying off 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.000 our lot because I dressed terribly and I'm overweight at 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:45.880 the moment, big time. Uh we Emily gets um. She 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.040 gets a few home magazines. I think like, like you guys, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.560 we we both share our love of like architecture and 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.400 stuff like that, so we we like looking and fantasizing 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.520 about like these amazing places. That's why I entered the 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.080 dream home thing. Every year. I know, it's kind of 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.120 like a little mini vacation to go through one of 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.360 those magnor it's also fun to judge and be like, oh, 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.320 you paid a million dollars for that, you chump. Why 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.000 don't you get some taste? But did I say to 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.560 the magazine. What I'll never be though, is the person 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:18.120 on HDTV House Owners that walks through and goes she's 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:19.840 I don't know about this place, Look at that ceiling fan. 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.000 Do they do that on house Owners? Oh? People, I 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.560 mean it's all set up anyway. House owners, they already 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.680 have the house when they go on the show. It's 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.560 it's a big scam. But uh yeah, there are people 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.160 that say, like, you know this ceiling fan or this 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.280 wall paper, and they're like, that's really easy to change, 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.560 my friend, And the producers off camera, they're like, can 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.200 you actually like stick your finger down you throw them 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.000 and make yourself vomit. It will really really pay off. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.120 All right, I think we should take a break and 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.200 come back and talk a little bit more about sweepstaks. 0:15:51.200 --> 0:16:01.920 How about that, let's do it. I want to learn 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.640 about a terrosortic college, how to take a perfect movement, 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.720 all about fractalskiscon Hun, the Lizzie Border murders, that all 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:17.920 runs on the plane, everything we should know. Word up, Jerry, Okay, Chuck. 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.560 So we've been talking about that h g TV Dream 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.800 Home giveaway, UM, and there's good reason because it is 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.160 one of the big ones, but it's also one of 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.720 the easiest to understand. Um. If you go and read 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:34.040 up on hd TVs Dream Home UH sweepstakes, you're gonna 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.440 find there's a very clear reason that they give away 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.920 this huge prize with all of this money and cars 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.400 and all this stuff, because I guess they build the 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.560 home over the course of like a season and then 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:50.400 they give it away, so part of then it right. 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:55.040 So they're generating UM viewers for the TV show, which 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.800 is supported by advertising, and the more viewers you have, 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.880 the more you can charge for ads. UM so the 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.040 sweepstakes is just basically being used to generate buzz for 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.280 the TV show now or vice versa, maybe both, but 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.280 the point is there. It's paying off for them, which 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.919 is why they keep giving this stuff away. But I 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.040 have a soft spot in my heart for this one 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:20.000 because they are one of these uh few giant sweepstakes 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.000 that just say here's how it's done, ask us whatever 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:24.840 question do you want? This is all very much on 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:29.439 the up and up. Yeah, and it's also, um just 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.280 a big advertising benanza period. So not only are you 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.800 getting that GMC suv, it's like frigid air and like 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.040 I guarantee, every single thing in that house has some 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.240 sort of sponsorship attached to it, like from the siding 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:45.880 down to the to the dude who poured the concrete. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.239 You know, I'm sure they all donate that stuff for 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.680 in kind advertising. You know, that's a Tommy Thompson brand 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:58.320 concrete job. It's double stamped. But yeah, HDTV is very cute, 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.320 like they they have a um I think they actually 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:06.400 have a regular drawing, not even a computerized drawing, like 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.120 they do it the old fashioned way, right dude, Yes 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.120 they should. But I just had a stroke of genius. 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.640 We should get h G t VS Dream Home sweepstakes 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.600 to sponsor this episode. That would be great, that would 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.560 be full circle. Yeah, and maybe put your thumb on 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.480 the scale for one of us. Yeah right, you know. Yeah, 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:27.399 so um with the with the dream Home giveaway. The 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:31.040 way that they hold the sweepstakes um is through what's 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:35.199 called a random drawing method where if you enter, you 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.200 can enter by mail, I believe, which is the old standard, 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.360 old fashioned standard way. You can also do it online, 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.000 which is far in a way the much more common 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.879 way to do it now do it. But either way 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.040 you're going to have your entry placed into a bin. 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.400 They have actual physical bins, like I get the impression 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:57.520 it's of fifty five gallon drum and your entry, your 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.720 physical paper entry goes into that drum. Or fit's online, 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.639 it goes into a virtual bin. And then at the 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:06.280 end of the contest, these bins have maybe like fifty 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.399 thou entries in them each and then they're they're sealed 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.360 off in a new been started and each bin's numbered right. 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:14.880 And then at the end of the contest they put 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.520 uh the number of ping pong balls is there are 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:24.479 bins put those in a lotto machine pick one, and 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:26.119 all of a sudden you have your bin number, And 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.640 now things are getting for real, are they not? They are? 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:31.720 And then uh, and I think that's what I like 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.600 about it. Two is the old school nature of it, 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.560 wherein like you're you're getting selected out of a hat essentially, 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:43.040 and you have just one a house. Well no, no, 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.680 not yet. Your bin has just been picked. You haven't 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.160 necessarily been picked out. You gotta tell them how old 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.520 school and low fi this is. Oh well, yeah, once 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:53.040 you get to the bin, I mean, don't they just 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:55.640 like dump it on the floor and literally pick it out. Yeah, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.440 when they seal a bin, they give it a good 0:19:57.480 --> 0:19:59.800 shake and a roll and all that. So that like 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.840 any so, so the the first entry isn't necessarily any 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.240 better off than the last entry. They're all mixed together 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:09.639 pretty well. But then yeah, they dump it onto the 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.240 floor and they take an HDTV employee, blindfold him or 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:17.680 her them, and push them towards the pile of envelopes, 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.960 hopefully without them falling down, although if they do, it's 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:22.640 on a pile of envelopes, so it's not too bad. 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.440 And then they just grope and grab one and that's 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:28.680 your winner. If it's a physical one. If it's virtual one, 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:31.480 a computer program runs through all the names in that bin, 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.200 and then the the the employee presses the space bar 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.879 and stops it. Either way, it's a random person picked 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:40.000 and I love it. You might as well be conducting 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:45.080 like a Catholic church fair drawing at that point, when 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.040 you have somebody blindfolded grabbing at a pile of envelopes. 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.480 That's the level that you're at. Yeah, you know. It 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:56.320 would make it even better, is if they is if 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:58.800 they did that, but instead of choosing the winner, they 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:03.160 chose like five different names, and then they had those 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.200 people come in and they had David Broms Dad's holding 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.000 up five match sticks with his hand in front of 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.680 the camera, and each person had to draw a match 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.920 stick and the longest stick wins the house. Who's David 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:20.000 Bromstad Is he from Stranger Things? No, he's he's HDTV. No, 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:22.359 that makes more sense than he's the guy that's like 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.160 now covered in tats that didn't used to be covered 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:29.359 in tats. No idea wa see the trainer who recently 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:31.480 had a heart attack, but now he's on this blood thinner. 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.919 I don't think so. He's uh. I mean now another 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.720 show he does is the is the Lottery dream Home. 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.840 Like he he gets lottery winners and tries to sell 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.840 them how or you know, shows them houses. I've never 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:49.280 heard of depressing show. Actually, yeah, I don't. We've done 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:53.159 one on lotteries before. But did we touch upon like 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:59.720 how tragic most lottery winnings are? Uh? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:01.439 So I can imagine that show has been of a 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.320