* And The Winner Is ...

Spend above RM30 and win a car! Buy 2 items and stand a chance to travel to Timbuktu. Everyday we are bombarded by advertisements to tempt us to spend. As a sweetener, the retailers are offering contests whole year round to increase their sales. It is a proven marketing ploy that plays tricks on consumers. The more we buy the more chances to win the cars, electrical items, holidays etc.

Hmm, we did hear stories that some of these retailers were not 'honest'. There was no winner at the end or a model or two will be employed to be photographed as winner. Any real story to share?

Picked this interesting story published in the UK tabloids last week. The BBC has been fined £400,000 for “deliberately” cheating the public with fake phone-in competitions. Telly watchdog Ofcom blasted BBC for “faking winners of competitions and deliberately conducting competitions unfairly”. A probe revealed that the shows had made up names for phone-in competitions or pre-recorded them with fake “winners”.

Another broadcaster, ITV has been hit with a record fine of £5.68m for abusing premium rate phone services in a host of hit shows. Popular shows were found to have “serious editorial issues” and have all been penalised for misleading viewers. The production team of Soapstar Superstar ignored the viewers' vote and finalised results before the lines had closed. ITV made £7.8m from uncounted votes from these programmes in question and some 10 million telephone calls were affected.

So still have the urge to attach the counterfoil and submit the contest form? Or sms to vote your favourite reality stars?