The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Discuss or comment on anything relating to D.C.Thomson's second longest running comic. The home of Dennis the Menace. Has been running since 1938.

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WizzKid97
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by WizzKid97 »

Phoenix wrote:
WizzKid97 wrote:colcool2007
I hope you realise, WizzKid297, that you have just deBonded one of our honourable administrators.
Oops! That's what happens when you don't wear your glasses - thanks Phoenix!
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Phoenix »

-MikeD- wrote:given the almost wilful way in which some people misinterpret the comments of others
Perhaps, in the light of this comment, Captain Storm might be persuaded to look again at that post of mine that caused him to get his thin-skinned knickers in a totally unreasonable twist and stomp off home into retirement, taking his bat, ball and wickets with him. You misread the tone completely, Cap. There was no personal criticism there, the post was humorous. Come back please so that we can get on with the game.

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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Lew Stringer »

Regarding the Golden Ticket prizes. The Beano shows the quantities of top prizes on offer. Adding them up it comes to something like 284 prizes. I'd have thought most people would know the circulation of The Beano is in the thousands (particularly this week, as more copies have been printed). Therefore it stands to reason that most readers are not going to be one of the 284 top winners, but a digital subscription is still a prize, albeit a consolation prize perhaps. "Everyone is a winner with The Beano" as their TV ad said, which is true. There's no scam.
Digifiend wrote:Good, but the site should've been working properly in the first place. Someone needs to give us an explanation.
Websites are not infallible, nor are the people using them. That's the explanation. All comes to he who waits, even if it is only a digital subscription.
Digifiend wrote:Last week's Beano doesn't mention it at all.
It's mentioned on the website. You can't win without visiting the website, so they'll read about it there:

"Each issue throughout August contains a winning ticket - yep, you read that right, EVERY ticket guarantees a prize. There's fantastic family holidays to be won with Universal Studios and PGL Holidays, iPads, and TONS of top toys, great games, and giggle-byte packed digital editions of The Beano."

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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Digifiend »

Last week's issue didn't mention the number of prizes, and neither does this month's BeanoMAX, which used the same four pages last week's Beano did. Anybody who bought Max and not the weekly wouldn't know that there was only 284 of the advertised prizes, hence why they've been left disappointed. Likewise, anybody who went to the website before actually reading the comic, and didn't look at the prizes list on the website. They should've put the full list of prizes, including the subs, in last week's issue and in the current Max. Would've saved them a lot of bother.

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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by colcool007 »

Teacup. Storm. Need we say more? As long as it boost Beano sales, I can't see why people are getting excited. It's more like

Beano Ed: Did you say everyone would be a winner?
PR guy: That's right, Ed. Everyone!
Beano Ed: But that's going to cost a fortune!
PR guy: Not if we make most of the prizes a digital subscription.
Beano Ed: But then we don't get those sales.
PR guy: But we do get the kids reading it on their Mum/dad's laptop/PC/tablet/Iphone.
Beano Ed: So do we put that in the list of prizes?
PR guy: What a great idea! I'll email you with that suggestion.
Beano Ed: OK, I'll add it to the copy when you email me....

Some time later.

Beano Ed: I'm sure I was going to add something to the list of prizes, but I just can't remember. I'm sure PR guy will let me know what it is.
:coat:
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Lew Stringer »

Digifiend wrote:Likewise, anybody who went to the website before actually reading the comic, and didn't look at the prizes list on the website.
It's not The Beano's fault if kids and their parents haven't read the website properly, but I agree they should have used something like "plus thousands of consolation prizes" in the comics. Perhaps it'll be added to upcoming issues.

However, I mainly agree with colcool007 on this. It really is a storm in a teacup. I entered competitions when I was a kid, didn't win, was disappointed for a little while, but it wasn't a big deal. Life's full of far harder disappointments than this.
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by starscape »

Truly truly pathetic.

"why you crying kid? You got something for nothing."

"I want something bigger and more expensive!! This free gift isn't enough for me!"

:headbash:

Don't be so :censored: spoiled.
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by -MikeD- »

Okay - I get the message. It's okay to go out of your way to treat kids like little consumers, to appeal to their natural greed, already fully nurtured by a culture that has found no way of advancing except through the exploitation of the gullible, young or old. Then, when the kid cries foul, it's his or her fault for being moronic enough to have bought into the whole chimera. Lesson learnt, go out and be less of a credulous dick with unreasonable expectations and for God's sake - grow up! Didn't you get your lawyer to read the small print? Pah! It's a good thing for us all that your favourite comic is here to teach you these harsh but valuable lessons, eh me little ones?

I'm sorry, but I still think it's both a Sturm in Wasserglas and an own goal for The Beano. And I really wish they could promote the comic, the brand, through the use of great stories and great characters and not a page from the Argos catalogue. It's much harder, and much more expensive to be creative but so much more rewarding (yes, even financially) in the long run.
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by swirlythingy »

You can protest all you like that, technically speaking, the rules of the competition are explained in full. The thing is, they're not explained in full in any way in which the entrants would be expected to read them. Sure, you can go to the Rules tab and read all the small print, which is the only place where it is ever mentioned that you will win a digital subscription unless you are extremely lucky, but thinking more realistically for a moment, do you think that the people designing this competition went out of their way to make this vital information available to children and parents? From the perspective of an ordinary reader - and don't imagine that the designers weren't well aware of this - the competition is portrayed, both in the comics and on most of the website, as offering a prize to everyone, barely even mentioning the subscriptions which 99% of people win.

The Coco Pops adverts, at least until they were banned from TV altogether, used to be legally obliged to include the text "Enjoy as part of a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet" in small type at the bottom of the screen for two seconds, just so they could claim that it was there and it wasn't their fault if people didn't read it. Did this make Coco Pops a healthy breakfast? No.

Oh, and for those still wondering exactly how many prizes are being offered in total, that same Rules tab reveals that the precise figure is 657.
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Digifiend »

swirlythingy wrote:You can protest all you like that, technically speaking, the rules of the competition are explained in full. The thing is, they're not explained in full in any way in which the entrants would be expected to read them. Sure, you can go to the Rules tab and read all the small print, which is the only place where it is ever mentioned that you will win a digital subscription unless you are extremely lucky,
It's at the bottom of the prizes tab as well. But I bet most people just entered the code right away without checking that, since the prize list (minus the subs) was also in the comic. http://www.beanogoldenticket.com/prizes/

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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by swirlythingy »

Digifiend wrote:It's at the bottom of the prizes tab as well.
All right, two places then, but it's hardly a good-faith attempt to inform entrants, is it? Plus you have to scroll right to the bottom of the rules as well - I was quite surprised to find that it didn't have a numbered paragraph of its own.

By the way, did you know you do actually have the right to see the full list of prizewinners?
23. For a list of winners, please send an S.A.E. to ATOM Marketing Limited, 3 The Beeches, Beech Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5ER after 18.9.12.
I might just do that. And then compare the results... ;)
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Lew Stringer »

-MikeD- wrote:Okay - I get the message. It's okay to go out of your way to treat kids like little consumers, to appeal to their natural greed, already fully nurtured by a culture that has found no way of advancing except through the exploitation of the gullible, young or old. Then, when the kid cries foul, it's his or her fault for being moronic enough to have bought into the whole chimera. Lesson learnt, go out and be less of a credulous dick with unreasonable expectations and for God's sake - grow up! Didn't you get your lawyer to read the small print? Pah! It's a good thing for us all that your favourite comic is here to teach you these harsh but valuable lessons, eh me little ones?

I'm sorry, but I still think it's both a Sturm in Wasserglas and an own goal for The Beano. And I really wish they could promote the comic, the brand, through the use of great stories and great characters and not a page from the Argos catalogue. It's much harder, and much more expensive to be creative but so much more rewarding (yes, even financially) in the long run.
No, the storm on a teacup is that The Beano didn't mention the consolation prizes in the comics (even though they were clearly mentioned on the website, not in smallprint, on a page that you have to go through in order to claim your prize). I can sympathize that it's a shame that some kids got their hopes up expecting to win a toy, game, iPad or a trip to America, but it really isn't the end of the world. I could understand the cynicism if they ended up with nothing, but everyone wins something. Whether or not it's a gift they didn't want is irrelevant. It's still something for nothing.
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by swirlythingy »

A lot of people defending the competition are making the crucial mistake of failing to distinguish between what is right, and what Joe Public thinks is right.

And this was meant to be a PR boosting exercise, right? That makes what people think - regardless of whether or not you think they're right to think it - rather important.
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Lew Stringer »

swirlythingy wrote:A lot of people defending the competition are making the crucial mistake of failing to distinguish between what is right, and what Joe Public thinks is right.
It's not a mistake, just a bemused observation. From what I've read Joe Public seems to think their kids should have a better prize than the one they received. That's not really how the world works is it?

As I said earlier, I do agree that the comics should have mentioned the digital prizes, just as the website and TV ad did. But I also wonder how anyone failed to miss it being mentioned on the website when it's a page you go through to claim your prize. It wasn't part of the small print. It was at the bottom of the list of prizes, along with a few other small prizes that were not mentioned in the comic. So apparently some kids and their parents rushed through the website without reading it properly. And that's The Beano's fault because...?
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Re: The Beano merges..UPDATE its not a merge!!!!!!!!!!

Post by swirlythingy »

Lew Stringer wrote:So apparently some kids and their parents rushed through the website without reading it properly. And that's The Beano's fault because...?
As I explained earlier, you can also use this argument to tell off parents who were persuaded to buy Coco Pops for their child after watching the advert, failing to consider their obesity-inducing propensities. Coco Pops can, truthfully, say, "Well it's not as if we didn't warn you!", but putting this warning into the parent's head was plainly not the primary objective - or even a secondary one - of the advert in question.

And yes, said parent is an idiot and a twit. But they're an idiot and a twit which is giving money to the company they are now angry at, which means, from the company's perspective, they can only lose by telling them, even truthfully, that they were over-idealistic or just plain wrong.

"The customer is always right" - a phrase which has caused so much pain to so many employees in history, but one which, in the end, is almost impossible to ignore if you want to continue doing business. Particularly in the case of righteous lynch mobs like the one now brewing on the Beano's Facebook page.
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