For some of us watching the unfolding scammist tendencies of the telecoms companies in Nigeria the height of deceit and corporate exploitation was reached when MTN launched recently its very borgouise and outright insulting “Ultimate Wonder Promo” promising a grand prize of an aeroplane or its equivalent in cash plus N200 million other cash prizes for people who recharge a specified amount regularly.

The Nigerian Communication Commission and other relevant corporate behaviour regulatory agencies have sat silently and watched telecom companies turn from their legitimate business of providing telecommunication services to churning out lotteries and gambling schemes in form of promotions. And now the telecom company with the worst reputation for exploitation has taken the banner a notch higher promising heaven and earth in a bid to scam more money from Nigerians.

We advise NCC to run a check and see if MTN runs these kind of insulting and abusing promos in other countries where they operate say South Africa for instance. They would pay heavy fines for insulting the very people who make their business tick.

When the pictures of the MTN Win Aeroplane promo broke on the internet we thought it was the work of a mischievous Nairalander but we finally saw with dismay the advert running on several TV stations. It’s been several days and yet nothing has been done.

The name of the promo itself smarks of scams and techniques used by con artists from the days of the American Yellow Kid. In the history of promos by telecom companies promising things such as “180 Millionaires in 180 Days” “N1 Million Naira Everyday for 90 Days” etc the NCC has never checked for instance if they actually gave out the number of millions or prizes promised to the specified number of winners. There is apparently no check in place to verify the correct adherence to corporate promotional standards.

Instead these companies go ahead and offer the millions to a few, get tens of journalists and media people to cover it and then sit back to continue pushing the promos without anybody giving a damn as to whether they adhere to the promises in their promo campaign.

It is also disheartening that our various media outfits just shamelessly accept to air or feature these ads without doing their watchdog work of ensuring that these companies actually stick to the promise and do not just fleece customers. Accepted that media outfits need to make money but not at the risk of helping companies cheat the public.

We also challenge the company’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Mr. Larry Annetts to substantiate MTN’s claim that “last year, in commemoration of our 10th anniversary in Nigeria, we excited and enriched many Nigerians with the much-talked about ‘1 Billion Naira’ reward; where 90 lucky winners went home with cash prizes of N10m each among other mouth-watering prizes. This year again, through the MTN Automania game, a subscription-based initiative, the company is giving out 100 xi35 SUVs in a 100-day nationwide promo.”

And for saying that MTN has taken the the customer-reward concept to an unprecedented level where no brand has attempted in Africa they (MTN) should try and take such spurious, defrauding promos to countries with saner and more competent regulators and see if they will have such ignored. If it were in a clime where consumers are more proactive MTN would have been sued by a customer who fails to get the promised reward after spending the stated amounts to recharge.

We still expect Nigerians to help the NCC do their work by starting to take MTN and other insenstitive and irresponsible companies who undertake scam promos and gambling ventures instead of focusing on improving services offered to customers.

Source: http://nairabrains.com/2012/08/mtn-ultimate-wonder-promo-blurring-the-lines-between-corporate-promotions-and-scam-promos/