The Penny Auction site Woozol.com is launching in October and because there are already like 50 Penny Auction sites on the web, the Woozol team apparently decided they better make a TV commercial.  But it turns out, making a TV commercial is really expensive!  So Woozol decided to “crowdsource” their commercial and let the aspiring ad makers out their handle the job. A lot of companies are doing that these days and I think that’s awesome.  But what’s not awesome is when a company like Woozol tries to take advantage of the people who enter their contest.  Woozol decided that a fair price for a crowdsourced commercial that was guaranteed to air on national TV is $1,000.

And if that minuscule prize wasn’t insulting enough, Woozol decided the best way to pick their first TV commercial was through a public vote.  And it was the worst kind of public vote too; it was run on facebook and people could vote every day.  That means that quality would have zero impact on deciding the winners.  Basically, Woozol ran a voting-contest, not a video contest.

So the company decided that a little extra social media exposure meant more to them then a quality commercial.  And can you guess what happened?  The contest was a complete and utter disaster.  They got so few entries that they had to extend the deadline.  And in the end, the entries they did receive were pretty much terrible.  None of them were TV-quality to say the least.  But the “public’ has spoken and here is the ad winning ad that Woozol promised they would air on TV:

Woozol.com’s First Place Winner.  Prize:  $1,000 plus national airplay:



Ha!  That “TV commercial” was only 19 seconds long!  How did it even get accepted into the contest?  There is simply no way Woozol can run that on TV.  But national airplay was part of the guaranteed prize. This is from Woozol’s Facebook page:

New Website *Woozol.com* starts a $1,000 Video Contest to find a fantastic *TV Commercial.* Get your friends to vote because the one with the most votes wins the grand prize: *$1,000 and their commercial broadcast on national television!* Voting will begin on August 29th and run through September 9th, so be sure to get your submission in on time and tell your friends!

So it looks like the company is stuck airing that video. In fact, a rep from Woozol said that was one reason the cash prize was so low. They felt that the exposure was the most valuable part of the prize. So is Woozol really going to run a 19 second TV commercial or are they going to break their promise to air the winning video?

That question might be moot because surprise, surprise….it looks like there was probably a massive amount of cheating going on during the voting phase.  Other disgruntled contestants have been leaving comments on Woozol’s facebook page saying that they suspected the winners cheated.  Here’s what one contestant had to say:

Taras M:  This contest was so rigged! I am reading some of the comments on the 2nd Prize Video Winner. And somebody said they voted for him 80 times using an I.P. changer. This should not be allowed and he should be eliminated. I am also kind of surprised all three videos were very simple Windows Movie Maker type videos that takes 20 minutes to make. None of the hard working videos even got a spot.  I am not trying to claim a spot or anything, I just want to give my 2 cents and let you know that 2/3 Winners chosen used an internet source to amp up votes. I just think this is a very unfair advantage.

So maybe Woozol will be able to weasel out of their obligations by voiding the contest becuase of cheating.  And by the way, as that commenter points out, there was a 2nd and 3rd place in this contest.  Second prize was $500 and Third prize was $250.  Just for the heck of it, Here’s the video that won 2nd place:

Woozol.com’s Second Place Winner.  Prize:  $500:



Was that epic or what?  I think this entire story can be summed up in one line; YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

 

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