Fuse Science Inc (DROP)

[Swankp]

H-

The FTC and state AG's would look at a 'pay to enter' sweepstakes or contest as a lottery, where the purchase of a product was deemed as 'consideration' - and companies cannot run lotteries, esp. on a national scale. So, companies can't run contests and sweepstakes that require a cash purchase to enter and exclude those who do not pay money for the chance to win something that has value. This is why there are always 'free' ways to enter sweepstakes and contests when you look at the rules to a specific promotion.

Promotion law is a tangled area, but what you describe is definitely considered illegal...it would be nice, however, to conduct more promotions that involve those personalities you mention...just a simple submit your name/email to meet a Fuse athlete would lead to a great email list to sell products, etc.

I would recommend that they they do a sweeps to merchandise an experience with one of their athletes, or to an event with a few of them, where the entrants subscribe to a free Fuse newsletter and they can send out weekly newsletters to these subscribers with various promo information, etc...this is a very common thing that many brands do...in those newsletters, they can offer all sorts of merchandise for sale - there is a high conversion rate, i.e. sales.