Radio contest ends up in Facebook flap
Calgary gag nearly put homeless man backstage at show
  
Stephen Hunt
Calgary Herald


Friday, June 08, 2007


When is a joke not a joke? When you post it on Facebook and it blows up into something resembling a fiasco.

That's what happened when 27-year-old Sebastian Quinn heard about a contest Calgary radio station Vibe 98.5 was sponsoring. The contest offered five sets of Gwen Stefani tickets and backstage passes to whomever recruited the most virtual friends on Facebook, the wildly-popular social networking website.

Things went awry when Quinn and some of his friends started a cheeky group to campaign on behalf of an oblivious homeless man who lives downtown, whom they dubbed Plus-15 Guy.

"The initial intention was just a little spoof-parody for 20 people or so," says Quinn.

The joke quickly mushroomed into 400 people within two days, at which point Quinn says he realized he had a phenomenon on his hands.

The facts about what happened next vary depending on who is telling the tale, but the story is an illustration of the unexpected influence of networking sites such as Facebook, which connects users who agree to be "friends" on the site.

Facebook members took up the cause of Plus-15 Guy -- who was completely unaware of the contest and, quite possibly, of Facebook.

Quinn admits he has never spoken to the man about the contest, and doesn't even know his real name. Nevertheless, Plus-15 Guy shot to the top of the charts, claiming the top spot in the Vibe contest by a wide margin.

"Once it reached 400 people in a span of less than two days I believe, we thought, 'Since we've got the attention of so many people, why don't we turn into an attraction where we can raise a little bit of awareness for the underprivileged -- do something good for a change?' " says Quinn, who announced that he was raising money for the homeless.

The number of Plus-15 Guy's friends rocketed past 1,000, past 2,000, past 3,000 to where it stands now, at 3,780 -- far beyond second-place numbers of 2,303.

All of which would have put Plus-15 Guy well on his way to being backstage with Gwen, except midway through the contest, Vibe realized their contest was being usurped by a gag. The station posted rules that made Plus-15 Guy ineligible.

"It's part of every rules clause -- we're allowed to change the rules anytime, and the reason we do that is because things come up," says Chad Martin, Vibe 98.5's morning man and the station's program director.

"The funny part is, we didn't change the rules because of these guys."

According to Martin, different groups were attempting to lure friends by offering to sell them the backstage passes, so the station imposed a rule that tickets were non-transferable. They also made a rule that the person the group was named for had to be the Facebook administrator and had to use their real name.

"This isn't meant for people to profit," Martin says. "This is meant for true Gwen Stefani fans, right? So what we did was put up some rules claiming -- which should have been there in the first place -- if you're the moderator of your group, you're the person who wins, and that's that. It's non-transferable, because we didn't want people selling these, or doing anything like that."

While Quinn allows for the possibility the changes mid-contest were not targeted at his group, he and his backers are annoyed they are no longer eligible to win, and counter the rule changes are being selectively enforced.

"What I do question is whether this scrutiny has been applied to all of the groups," he says, noting several other group's using charities to attract Facebook friends.

Now accusations of exploiting the homeless are being exchanged by both sides, creating a somewhat sour taste for what ought to be a sweetheart of a contest.

"Typically, when you exploit someone, you profit or gain from it some way. I've gained nothing" says Quinn, adding that "none of the members or administrators have profited. In fact, we've donated money."

As of late Thursday afternoon, the group has taken in pledges for $2,184, all of which will be donated to various Calgary homeless groups.

At Vibe, Martin is left to deal with another reporter asking about the homeless instead of Gwen Stefani, a fact he chalks up to the phenomenon that is Facebook.

"I think we hit on an absolutely huge thing at the time, which was Facebook," Martin says, "but at the same time, when you take a very desirable thing like Gwen Stefani backstage passes and put it on one of the hottest things going right now, it's the mix of the two: the massive exposure and people trying to have some fun with it."

shunt@theherald.canwest.com

Poor Pog, err, Chad. I feel sorry for the guy, having to battle to keep the focus on the intent of the contest instead of what it developed into.  Nice damage control.  And y'know, it probably sounded good during the promo meeting (“Hey guys, we’ve got to wrap this up, I've got a lunch with the GM.   Anybody have any thoughts on how we can get rid of these passes?  What’s the deal with this ‘Bookface’ thing I’m hearing things about?”) but it appears that some of the details weren't explored completely.

Perhaps all promo people should use this little episode as an example as to why you need to tear apart every facet of a contest and look for loopholes.  And perhaps it was a w-e-e-e too complex a contest to begin with for the prizing involved.  Virtually every promo director I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years followed the old “KISS” mantra – keep it simple, stupid!.  When you start to over-complicate things, you open the door for problems.  Thank goodness there were enough loopholes in the rules that they were able to change them to suit the situation.  Bravo, Pog!!! Ahhh, rather, Chad!!!  

This would be a perfect time to snag some frontrow tickets and auction them off for the Mustard Seed or another agency that supports the homeless.  

Or send your announcers out to live on the streets for a night.  

Don't get bogged down by controversy, take it, spin it, own it.

And yes, they're lucky they had that loophole in the rules there.

Personally, this whole thing smacks of bad taste. Instead of pulling the plug on the contest, why didn't they support the cause and make a little cash for some charities in need? I highly doubt there was a problem with money-grubbers selling the tickets for cash, it was more to save face when your lame ass promotion went down hill, and had it rubbed in your face by nearly 4000 people on Facebook. But, as the old cliche goes, there's no such thing as bad press.

The beat in Vancouver has a similar contest running.

http://thebeat.com/eventdetail.cfm?EventID=2406