Beer Here?
Yowza. No wonder beer.com has fans spanning the globe. How could the hobby site give away free beer in an online sweeps open to consumers in states and countries where it’s illegal to give away alcohol?
Here’s the fine print: The prize isn’t actually beer. It’s cash – enough cash to buy a year’s supply of beer. The grand-prize winner gets a beer keg refrigerator delivered to his home if it’s in the continental U.S. (anyplace else, the prize is the $800 declared cash value of the fridge), and $1,500 cash, the declared value of a year’s supply of beer.
As many as 20 winners get a beer.com hat or T-shirt delivered to their homes, with no cash value and no substitutions. Entries were limited to one per day from consumers of legal drinking age who are registered on the site (300,000 suds lovers have registered as “members”). A disclaimer, of course, notes that the promotion is void where prohibited or restricted by law.
About 25 states specifically say marketers can’t give out alcohol, and “I don’t know how the site’s owners could find out and track restrictions worldwide,” says Shelly Rowan, partner at Cohen & Silverman, Denver, CO. Still, it seems nervy to headline the sweeps “Free Beer,” Rowan adds.
Of course, nerves suit a Web site that posts photos of its Beer Belly Bravado contest winners and e-mail like this: “It’s mad!! I am an underage beer drinker, and my friends and I can’t wait to play these games!!-The Birdman, Australia.”
Frequent shopper cards were pioneered by California grocers such as Vons and Raley’s, so it’s no surprise the state is taking the lead in considering restrictions on consumer data collection by retailers’.
The Supermarket Disclosure Act of 1999, now in the state senate, would require supermarkets to divulge how they intend to use collected data. It would also give shoppers the right to have sales information deleted and prohibit distribution of the data.
A third proposal would curtail marketers’ ability to compile data on individuals who have not chosen to participate in their programs. The Personal Information and Privacy Act of 1999 says that an individual’s right to privacy has been violated whenever data is collected without his consent.
