• There were supposed to be cars and PLN 100 thous. as prizes. Participants were supposed to enter the final of the contest after sending only 1 text message. There were 4 text messages and additional questions.
• Contrary to the announcements, sending a single text message did not allow the sender to compete for any prizes.
• The President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, fined Telewizja Polsat and Teleaudio Dwa – companies responsible for organising the New Year’s Eve text to win contest.
• For misleading viewers, the companies will have to pay nearly PLN 10 million.

The decision made by the President relates to the contest co-organised by Telewizja Polsat and Teleaudio Dwa on the New Year’s Eve in 2021. Viewers who watched the concert broadcast live by Telewizja Polsat on 31 December could participate in the text to win “Win PLN 100,000 or a car and additional prizes” contest. The programme hosts assured the viewers that “all you need to do is send a text message reading SYLWESTER to 7370”, “tonight you are competing for one of these four elegant cars”, “tonight we will be calling only the winners.” In addition, encouragement to send a text message appeared on a special bumper displayed on the screen during the concert.

UOKiK analysed the contest scenario, the New Year’s Eve broadcast recording and the wording of text messages received by consumers from organisers. Telewizja Polsat and Teleaudio Dwa misled consumers as to the costs of participation in the contest, its rules, course and winnable prizes.

Contrary to the announcements repeated multiple times, sending a single text message for PLN 3.69 did not allow the sender to compete for announced prizes, but rather served as an enrolment fee and initiated stages provided for by the organiser. The next stage was replying to two paid text messages about the grand prize of choice and postcode. This enabled participation in the contest for New Year’s Eve prizes and grand prizes, but still did not guarantee a chance to win any of the contest prizes, which could not be inferred in any way from the messages communicated during the broadcast and messages sent to viewers by organisers.

However, contrary to assurances made by concert hosts, in reality on New Year’s Eve viewers could not win the grand prizes they were promised. They received the message that they qualified for the final round only on 4 January. A day later they received a text message with a task that involved sending yet another text message.

When analysing the structure of the entire contest, UOKiK found that a viewer who wanted to participate in the final round of the contest and compete for the grand prize had to send 4 text messages, spending a total of PLN 14.76. Information displayed on the screen during the New Year’s Eve broadcast, assurances made by the hosts and text message sent to participants by organisers in reply were misleading as well. The teletext page referenced during the concert did not make it easier to become more familiar with the terms and conditions of the contest, as it contained only a reference to an extensive collection of regulations which may have proven impossible to read through and understand for many.

“When preparing a contest, each organiser must remember the basic principles of fairness. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day quizzes encourage consumers to participate in them spontaneously. Their popularity is affected by many factors, including the hope for an easy win on this special night. Clear information on what needs to be done to win is a recipe for success in any organised contest. Rules and the method of their presentation must be transparent and cannot be misleading, same as information provided in text messages sent to consumers looking forward to winning,” says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

For engaging in an unfair practice, the organisers were fined nearly PLN 10 million by the President of UOKiK. The sanctions were broken down as follows: Telewizja Polsat – PLN 9,557,918, Teleaudio Dwa – PLN 388,269. Furthermore, information about the fine must appear in the form of an audiovisual message on Polsat channels, websites of both companies and their social media profiles. The decision is not final - the companies may appeal against it.

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