[comp.dcom.telecom] McDonalds' 900 Scam

nol2105%dsacg2.dsac.dla.mil@dsac.dla.mil (Robert E. Zabloudil) (10/03/90)

In article <12535@accuvax.nwu.edu> Jeremy Grodberg <biosys!lia.com!
jgro@cad.berkeley.edu> writes:
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 674, Message 3 of 11

>I went into McDonalds today for dinner (or breakfast, depending you
>how you look at it), and found more sleaze than usual there.  It seems
>that McDonalds has figured out how to legally run a sweepstakes for
>profit, and once again 900 telephone service is the key.

I was also unhappy to see this, but perhaps for slightly different
reasons.  My wife is a "McDonald's alumna", and has so much respect
for that outfit that every time the budget gets tight, she talks about
another return engagement.  (Luckily, I'm doing better at talking her
out of that masochistic tendency.) Incidentally, she does have a FT
job already.

Anyway, I blame NBC for this scam.  After all, they get to charge more
$$ if they can claim more people watching their shows, and guess how
you get to find out the winning numbers?  Oh, yes, they'll be posted
at the drive-thru window at noon the next day, or you can call the 900
number, but they're counting on millions of people watching that night
for their number.

Incidentally, the fine print sez that all net proceeds from the phone
calls will go to Ronald McDonald's Children Charities or somesuch,
which is nice, but still doesn't change my opinion about the whole
thing.

Disclaimer: I'm not important in the Federal scheme of things; all
opinions strictly my own, etc.


Bob