Only Boys Can Win Trip to Comic Con
- Posted by Johanna on June 10, 2009 at 9:08 pm
- Category: LinkBlogging
The video game site IGN is running a sweepstakes to win a trip to Comic Con in San Diego for two in conjunction with the August science fiction movie District 9. Nothing wrong with that — it’s becoming a common promotion technique.
However, I was flummoxed by the rules:
This sweepstakes is open only to males who are both legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and Washington D.C. and who are at least between 18-24 years of age as of July 23, 2009
It goes on to say that you have to be available to travel to San Diego during convention dates and participate in an “assignment”.
… granting to the winner of an opportunity to participate in a DISTRICT 9-themed journalistic assignment trailing Sponsor’s editorial team covering portions of the Event related to DISTRICT 9 (the “Assignment”). … During the Assignment, the winner will work closely with an IGN Editor to attend select events, as determined at the sole discretion of Sponsor. The winner MUST be willing to conduct interviews, appear on-camera, write a blog and/or participate in other on-site activities as determined by Sponsor.
Why does any of this require only a boy under 25 years old? Is that even still legal these days? Even more strangely, if you visit the official rules page, they refer to the winner as “his/her”.
Update: (June 13) The contest is now open to both genders. Men can apply until June 22; women until July 3 (probably to compensate for the period they were ineligible). Looks like someone finally talked to the lawyers.
June 10, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Did you send them an email asking the same questions?
June 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm
If I were a lawyer for IGN, I’d think about changing these requirements, stat. There have been literally dozens of class-action lawsuits in California alone for promotions that violate state law prohibiting businesses from discriminating on the basis of age or sex. Multiply that times 51 and add federal anti-discrimination law–the result is an open invitation for a paint-by-numbers lawsuit.
As you note, there does not appear to be a reasonable basis for claiming that the restriction is consistent with public policy.
June 10, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Meanwhile, I wonder if this has anything to do with the sexual harassment at SDCC in 2008…
June 10, 2009 at 10:29 pm
They should consider hiring somebody, or sending one of their current employees down. I imagine it would be cheaper than conducting a screwy “contest” to get a free employee for a few days.
June 11, 2009 at 3:26 am
Mark, you find me an email address and I’ll be happy to. Looking for one without accepting cookies got me blank ever-reloading pages; turning on cookies, their site crashed my browser.
Jeff, glad to hear I wasn’t off base on that.
June 11, 2009 at 4:24 am
[...] Johanna Draper Carlson notices IGN’s boys-only Comic-Con contest. [...]
June 11, 2009 at 8:12 am
I looked around the website and the best I could do was come up with the name of the IGN media relations person, Alison Kurtz.
They apparently don’t publish email addresses. Instead, you fill out a contact form with your message. I’ve had very little success with those forms so I don’t use them.
June 11, 2009 at 8:42 am
I think I will enter. If I win, I will go in drag.
June 11, 2009 at 8:53 am
Oh, THAT would be something to see.
Upon further thought, one possible explanation is that they’re going to ask the winner to share accommodations with someone … but that’s kind of chintzy. Alternately, they’ve come up with a really special kind of recording and reporting rig that involves a dick-operated camera.
June 11, 2009 at 8:55 am
[...] Comics Worth Reading, apparently IGN is running a contest to win a trip to San Diego Comic Con to participate in an [...]
June 11, 2009 at 9:41 am
IGN is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and here’s a press release with an Alison Kurtz’s emails address at Fox. http://corp.ign.com/articles/813/813247p1.html Since it’s an IGN press release, I’m betting this is the same person mentioned above.
June 11, 2009 at 10:16 am
So I entered as a 29 year old female (which I am) and got NO warning telling me I wasn’t eligible. They’re trying to avoid people noticing the requirement, I think.
June 11, 2009 at 10:35 am
As a 23 year old female, maybe I’ll just accidentally click the MALE gender, which they’ve conveniently filled out for you automatically.
June 11, 2009 at 10:36 am
I’m with Laurie on this, the “male” box is prechecked, but if they really had a legitimate stance against women entering, why make it possible to check “female”, or have that option at all?
If I win, I’ll ditch my boyfriend and take Laurie or Johanna. That’ll show ‘em! :)
Also, I couldn’t help but notice the words “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE” beneath the official rules button… Even the website is rejecting me lol!
June 11, 2009 at 10:41 am
OK, email sent to Alison Kurtz — we’ll see if I get any kind of response.
June 11, 2009 at 11:51 am
And what does “at least between 18-24 years of age” mean? Seems like a very poorly thought-out promotion.
June 11, 2009 at 12:02 pm
There are a few exceptions in employment law for age/gender discrimination. For example, casting an actor in a movie. Even if someone is really, really good, you don’t need to hire a 50 year old female to play a 20 year old male.
Maybe the winner’s going to play some part in a movie or TV show or something while fulfilling the assignment?
June 11, 2009 at 12:05 pm
IGN as a site has a bit of a frat-boy attitude. I suspect that the “Assignment” they’ll be requiring the contest winner to do will involve promotional interviews with the starlet du jour, photo ops with sponsors’ booth babes, and the like. A woman (unless she’s, like super-hot) or a balding 36-year-old wouldn’t hit the target deomgraphic.
June 11, 2009 at 12:06 pm
The official rules have an ‘as of’ date listed, so it’s clear by which point you must be between those ages.
I’m guessing that they want guys due to demographics of their network. The guest can be female, just not the winner.
Still, you would think they would want to say why it has to be a guy, because they’re likely to tick off a lot of women this way. Then again, if they don’t currently have much of a female demographic, maybe they don’t care.
As for if it’s legal, I like to believe that people do their homework before doing something as public as this, but I’m realist enough to know better. So, there’s no telling.
June 11, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Sidne, someone pointed out that these were the same criteria for being drafted in the U.S., so there might be some kind of connection or something to the casting idea. However, I agree with Liria — more information on why they put up these restrictions would have avoided a lot of speculation that’s not very favorable to them.
June 11, 2009 at 12:36 pm
So that means that Olivia Munn (of G4’s ATTACK OF THE SHOW) would not be eligible. If they find out about this contest, they’ll have a lot of fun at IGN’s expense.
June 11, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Maybe the big reveal is that the aliens are all female:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/district9/small.html
June 11, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Speaking of gender discrimination class action lawsuits for promotional offers . . .
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4247723
June 11, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Well, an IGN rep just posted to another message board with an explanation, sort of: The marketers made us do it. “While IGN supports gamers of all ages, genders, shapes and sizes, these guidelines were created to foster a buzz for the film among a very narrow target group that the film’s promoters felt would be extremely passionate about the film’s subject matter.”
You know what? I’m more offended now than I was before.
June 12, 2009 at 12:23 am
This is not a contest. It’s thinly veiled as one, but what they’re really looking for is someone to do con coverage for them on the cheap. The “winner” of this contest is someone who will work a lot over the weekend without getting paid for it, aside from airfare and a hotel.
And since they’re looking for an on-camera personality, they’re within their rights to specify gender. When Mahalo Daily lost Veronica Belmont, for example, they specifically stated that the new host of the show needed to be a woman.
The problem here, legally, is that they’ve made this casting call into a contest. And as a contest, making it eligible to only one sex is very likely legally dubious.
June 12, 2009 at 12:48 am
Considering the site, the winner will probably be someone who has no sex at all.
ba-dum.
June 12, 2009 at 6:27 am
Augie, if they’d said that up front, that there was a reason for the restrictions, then there would have been a lot less concern. Also, that doesn’t jibe with the IGN response.
June 12, 2009 at 8:12 am
Yeah, I would have given them a pass if it was a casting call, but this is simply “We’re only marketing to BOYS.”
June 12, 2009 at 6:52 pm
[...] of some kind, and maybe there was a legit reason to restrict this to boys. But IGN has replied (via Johanna Draper and Torie Atkinson): The eligibility requirements for this contest were determined by Columbia [...]
June 12, 2009 at 11:25 pm
They’re now begrudgingly letting girls enter their contest, but if you’re 25 and have either set of plumbing, you’re still SOL. Nice.
June 12, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Johanna – You’re absolutely right. I think there’s one equitable solution to this one, though: Let Chaz Bono enter the contest! They won’t know what to do!
June 13, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Kudos to Johanna for calling attention to this contest & for succeeding to bring about a change.
I gotta say, IGN’s message board response is a textbook example of why PR should coordinate with legal:
“While IGN supports gamers of all ages, genders, shapes and sizes, these guidelines were created to foster a buzz for the film among a very narrow target group that the film’s promoters felt would be extremely passionate about the film’s subject matter.”
In other words, the company deliberately chose to exclude women because its business isn’t woman-friendly–not a helpful thing to have out there if you’re trying to construct a viable defense in a lawsuit.
This is a topic we discuss in my entrepreneurship classes. Target marketing is a standard part of business planning, yet by its vary nature targeting gender, race, age, ability, income, geography (e.g., redlining) or lifestyle can run a company into some rather serious–and expensive–legal problems.
June 13, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Or as an aggressive plaintiff’s lawyer might put it, “So the contest excluded women because they weren’t worth including?”
June 14, 2009 at 7:33 am
> “So the contest excluded women because they weren’t worth including?”
That can be answered quite matter-of-factly by presenting some revenue figures.
No, women aren’t worth much in revenue when it comes to comics, sci-fi, or videogames.
June 14, 2009 at 7:49 am
And by continuing to exclude them and assume they’re not interested, that’s certainly going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But it so happens that you’re wrong. Females fueled the biggest comic sales success story of the past decade: manga bought in bookstores.
June 15, 2009 at 3:01 am
> But it so happens that you’re wrong. Females fueled the biggest comic sales success story of the past decade: manga bought in bookstores.
Uh, what biggest story? Nobody’s heard of it, and it certainly hasn’t brought in any significant amount of revenue.
Also, thanks for deleting my messages. Censorship of opinions you don’t like isn’t discriminatory at all.
June 15, 2009 at 4:44 am
Julius, everyone except you knows about it.
You probably missed the recent decade.
June 15, 2009 at 6:05 am
I deleted one comment because you called people names and used profanity I don’t allow on this site. You play nice here or you don’t play.
June 15, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Honestly, how many of you REALLY want to go. I think your making a big deal out of this because the IGN people said “No Girls Allowed”. Now you all want to cry sexism.
Unless you want to go the Comic Con leave IGN alone.
June 16, 2009 at 1:14 am
Scot, I don’t want to marry a man, but I will speak up for the right of men to marry men and women to marry women. Discrimination in any form is harmful to our society. We have a responsibility to speak up.
June 16, 2009 at 1:27 am
They opened it up to females now.
June 16, 2009 at 6:26 am
Plenty of women, including me, would love a free trip to Comic Con, Scot. You may not have noticed them, but lots of women enjoy comics, movies, and other pop culture events.
June 16, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Are these the women that are spray painted blue and dressed in silver bikini’s,
or the ones that are locking lips with James T. Kirk on a “distant planet”.
Don’t get me wrong, there are women who legitimately like comics, but what I’m saying is that 75% of the women who are mad about the whole IGN thing… don’t.
June 17, 2009 at 12:01 am
Don’t get me wrong, there are women who legitimately like comics, but what I’m saying is that 75% of the women who are mad about the whole IGN thing… don’t.
And welcome to another episode of “Random Assertions Scot Pulled Out of his Posterior”! Tell the contestant what fabulous prizes he’s won.
Um, which part of this discussion taking place on a comics blog written by a woman did you miss, Scot? Clearly everyone here is interested in comics, because we’re here.
June 17, 2009 at 4:09 am
Scot, I went to a comic con earlier this year- The London MCM Expo- where male attendees were SERIOUSLY outnumbered by females. This is admittedly because the MCM Expo has a much bigger focus on manga than most cons, but still, it demonstrates that you don’t know what you’re talking about, just spouting opinions based on your own prejudices.
June 17, 2009 at 10:37 am
[...] about a male-only film promotion contest at San Diego's Comic-Con, Charlie Jane Anders (io9.com, 6/15/09) also notices the "L.A. Times [...]
June 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm
[...] been reading the silly "guys only" contest stuff at San Diego, and the Jake Gyllenhaal abs comments and all, and I’ve had enough. So, first 75 ladies who [...]
June 17, 2009 at 8:55 pm
[...] an attempt to counterbalance some of the stupider “only boys allowed” coverage lately (another example), good guy Thom Zahler is giving away copies of his [...]
June 19, 2009 at 9:53 am
[...] is all I ask. I’ll be at booth SP-638 in small press,” he wrote in an email. Johanna has more details on the “guys only” contest he [...]
June 27, 2009 at 12:46 pm
[...] CAN’T BE GEEKS? Johanna Drap Carlson at Comics Worth Reading noticed a most curious qualifier for a contest connected to the upcoming science fiction flick District 9: This sweepstakes is open [...]
July 4, 2009 at 1:26 am
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July 9, 2009 at 8:17 am
[...] So there you have it–even a federal district court has found that comics aren’t for girls. [...]
July 13, 2009 at 4:02 pm
[...] hosted a contest to win a trip to Comic-Con that was only open to [...]
July 28, 2009 at 10:31 am
[...] meeting Zahler at HeroesCon (at which he chose to directly combat the sexism of IGN’s infamous “boys-only” Comic-Con contest by giving a free issue of his comic to any women who stopped by), I decided to buy the trade of the [...]
August 7, 2009 at 7:55 am
[...] summer”. You may remember this film as the subject of a sexist PR campaign that featured a contest open to men only, until outcry forced changes. OK, maybe the movie’s still great, and the publicity folks are [...]
August 16, 2009 at 1:05 am
[...] A big warning flag on “District 9″ for some major RaceFail and ancillary GenderFail (see comments). Previously: a promotional competition for the movie was open to men only. [...]
August 16, 2009 at 11:23 am
I would submit that it’s also ageist to set an age limit like that.