Sorry to pick on Belvoir Fruit Farms (since they have a cracking product), but as a consumer of the brand I couldn't help noticing a recent offer that set my 'compliance' alarm bells ringing. It was one of those where you get a unique code on pack, then enter it on a website to see if you've won. There were five brilliant top prizes of trips to all the British Sporting Classics (Wimbledon, Lord's, Ascot etc). Trouble is, the code was a 9-digiter... that means 10 million (minus one) combinations. You might expect 30k entries to this sort of promo - which converts into a meagre 1.5% chance of even one top prize being claimed. Certainly not worth insuring, then. Out of curiosity I made a diary note and sent for the winners' list. As predicted... there were no winners. Now - as an insider - this was obvious to me, but I doubt if it were to the average consumer. So, basically, you can construct a legal, cost-free promotion that looks like it's promising the earth. There are plenty of these around - but perhaps with the new 'ISP SEAL' coming online, we'll see more offers that give their customers a decent chance of winning.
