The probability of a consumer winning $1,000,000 in a Canon digital camera promotion is extremely slim, despite how many people enter the promotion an investigation by Smarthouse has revealed.
According to Canon marketing collateral, now appearing in retail stores, 1 in 100 people who purchase a product during their Xmas promotion has a chance of winning the $1,000,000 being promoted by Canon.
According to the fine print of Canon’s terms and conditions for the promotion, there is more probability that a consumer will not win the $1M because, out of the 100 chosen to take a stab at a Canon picture board, only one will be given the chance to have a go.
This significantly “reduces” the probability of them winning say accountants from PWC.
According to SmartHouse calculations there is a 99 to 1 chance that they won’t win, Vs a 100 to 1 chance that they will win.
In response to our investigation Canon has responded claiming that the Company has followed a rigorous legal process for this promotion and that they are confident that the campaign is both ethically and legally sound.
They say that the mechanism is a simple one based on two components and that every entrant has the chance to be picked from a draw to have a shot at selecting the $1,000,000 picture.
The lucky person will face a board comprising 100 photos. One photo will have the $1 Million prize on the back; the other 99 will have a $10,000 consolation prize on the back.
So there’s a 1-in-100 chance of winning $1M and a 99-in-100 chance of winning $10K. The pick the $1,000,000 Picture event will happen in Sydney on 5 March 2010.
Canon claims that the promotion is already proving popular in the retail channel and that thousands of consumers have redeemed their prizes since the promotion was launched on the 15th of October 2009.
