We asked what are the strangest rules when it comes to the world of prize promotions?
This year marks twenty years that PromoVeritas have run some of the world’s favourite promotions. Our team of legal, operations and promotions experts have come across some truly weird and wonderful campaigns but we asked Emily Vickers, Paralegal, to share some of the wackiest rules her team have found when completing the all important legal reviews our international promotions require.
Making sure that a promotion does not contravene the rules of various markets is mostly straight forward and our team have lots of experience running prize draws or competitions in many countries but we work hard to ensure that no rule left unchecked, and here are some of the best ones we’ve come across…
- The number 4, green hats, black and white objects are all considered unlucky in Chinese marketing law!
- In Peru you can’t advertise baby formula
- What do you think happens to unawarded prizes in Italy? Instead of being kept by the promoter or the ministry, they are given to charity, a thoughtful idea from the Italians.
- Did you know that it is illegal to use the American flag in advertising campaigns in the USA?
- As we know terms and conditions are an integral part of any promotion, however the Kenyans go one step further by mandating that you must include what happens if the winner dies suddenly!
- Saudi Arabia you cannot award cash as a prize.
- In Vietnam, a gift with purchase promotion cannot be worth more than 50% of the value of the product to be purchased, except in the 30 days prior to the lunar new year.
- If you want to run a prize draw in Nigeria, you better make sure you have plenty of time to complete the registration as this process can take up to 12 months – crazy!
At PromoVeritas, we pride ourselves both on our extensive knowledge of the legal regimes in most major countries supported by our network of locally based promotional law specialists who can assist with the local advice, payments and registrations.
