Sweepstakes Home
Sweepstakes can be fun - but shouldn't
cost you money
Sweepstakes offers sweep savings
out the door
Sweepstakes 'scams' unveiled through
series
Daughters vent their frustrations
at sweepstakes
Another area person also believed
he was a winner
USPE responds to local customers'
complaints
Attorney General wants to better
the odds in sweepstakes
Sweepstakes victim goes public
Sweepstakes industry hits unlucky
streak
Psychology lures people into buying
Sweepstakes victim getting her
money back
Sweepstakes legislation may carry
local victim's name
Buying club complaints piling up
Here's the key: Think, call BBB
before you sign
NEWS-SUN, EVENING STAR
& HERALD-
REPUBLICAN
|
Why do the elderly
seem more susceptible to believing sweepstakes' promises?
Two experts give their
opinions
By CINDY BEVINGTON
Two experts in consumer behavior and gerentology studies spoke
at the National Hearing on Sweepstakes and Prize Promotion sponsored
by the National Association of Attorneys General in Indianapolis,
Ind., on Feb. 24, 1999.
Ravi Dhar, associate professor of marketing at the Yale University
School of Management and William E. Arnold, professor of communication
and director of the gerontology program at Arizona State University,
told the attorneys general that seniors process information slightly
differently than younger people.
The elderly, Dhar said, have limited information capacity
that causes them to think, "If it looks overall like a winner,
then it probably is a winner."
With less information processing capacity and with volumes
of information to process in a normal sweepstakes mailing, seniors
tend simply not to read it, he said.
Also, Dhar added, "...If you start putting in too many
things, everybody's going to get turned off or not read it totally."
Consumers also will make inferences - assumptions - about
a sweepstakes mailing that could make them believe a purchase
is required to win, or that their odds of winning are higher
if they buy something.
Arnold conducted research on who responds to sweepstakes offers
and what they notice when the sweepstakes envelopes arrive in
the mail.
Seniors are more vulnerable to believing the "guaranteed
winner" messages included on many sweepstakes mailings,
he told the attorneys.
Arnold agreed with Dhar that people do get the perception
that their odds of winning are better if they buy something.
"The warning, I think, gets lost," he said of disclaimers
that come with the mailing saying "no purchase necessary."
Arnold recommended education programs to help the public understand
the way sweepstakes operate.
He also recommended disallowing the use of certain types of
wording on sweepstakes mailings, such as "rush priority,"
"official notice," and "security seal," especially
when the end date of the sweepstakes is a long way off.
Dhar's recommendations to the attorneys general for making sweepstakes
odds easier to understand:
· Limit the total amount of information
· Remember it's not what you say; it's how you say
it: the framing effects, the imagination, the similarity. Therefore,
statements such as "you are the winner" or "finalist"
should not be allowed on sweepstakes mailings
· Each time you talk about winning, give the odds at
the same time - rather than separating the contest information
from the odds.
|
STAR REPORTER'S
SWEEPSTAKES SERIES WINS NATIONAL AWARD
EXCLUSIVE TO THIS WEB SITE:
A letter to The Evening Star editor
from Indiana's Attorney General
Want to read another paper's stories
about sweepstake scams?
Why do the elderly seem more susceptible
to believing sweepstakes promises? Two experts give their opinions
Why do the elderly seem more susceptible
to believing sweepstakes promises? A gerontologist shares his
studies.
Iowa has seen it before
National issue, local example,
big news
Persons to contact if you believe you may be the victim
of a sweepstakes scam:
National Association of Attorneys
General
750 First Street, NE, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20002
PH: (202) 326-6000
FAX: (202) 408-7014
Office of Attorney
General
Steve Carter
402 W. Washington St.
Fifth Floor
Indianapolis, IN 46204
PH: (317) 232-6201
FAX: (317) 232-7979
National Fraud Information Center 1-800-876-7060
National
Consumer's League
1-202-835-3323
Federal Trade Commission 1-877-382-4357
(toll free)
E-mail
Cindy Bevington
or Evening Star
editor Dave Kurtz.
WATCH FOR ADDITIONAL STORIES EXCLUSIVE TO THIS WEB SITE!
|
