Posted on 07/14/2005 4:10:52 AM PDT by Cowman
Woman Sues Over Radio Station's Toy Hummer April Fools' Prank
Last Updated: 07-13-05 at 2:58PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A listener is suing a radio station she said promised her a new Hummer H2 and instead gave her a remote-controlled model as an April Fools' Day prank.
Shannon Castillo, 25, sued Taft radio station KBDS "The Play" 103.9 after it presented her the toy car for winning a weeklong "contest" in which listeners were supposed to track the number of miles two H2s traveled around town. DJs at the station gave regular updates on the vehicles' supposed travels.
She said she hired a baby sitter for her two children so she could arrive at the station at 6 a.m. on the day of the giveaway, April 1. After she waited for two hours, she said, a DJ pulled up in the back of a truck and handed her and another listener remote-controlled toy cars.
"They put us on the radio all week long, just portraying how they couldn't believe that we believed they were actually giving away real cars," said Castillo, a Bakersfield housewife. "I just couldn't believe that they would actually humiliate someone like that."
The station did not return a call for comment Wednesday.
A series of photos on the station's Web site shows Castillo being presented the toy. In the last photo in the series, she signals her displeasure with an obscene gesture.
"On April 1st (Fool's) we ran a contest...'Win A Hummer'. Do you know how many people actually participated thinkin' we were gonna give away an actual hummer? Not on this day!!!" the Web site says.
Castillo's lawyer, Scott Perlman, said the station's misrepresentation of the prizes being offered violated state law and Federal Communications Commission regulations. The lawsuit, filed June 21, seeks $60,000, about the cost of a real H2.
"Any time you conduct a contest you have to be brutally honest about how you're conducting the contest and what you're giving away," Perlman said.
He said the station indicated the H2 had 22-inch rims, suggesting the vehicle itself was full-sized.
The case recalls one from 2002 in which a Florida Hooters restaurant waitress sued over a contest in which she thought she won a Toyota for selling the most beer to customers but was presented a toy Yoda doll, one of the "Star Wars" characters. The restaurant said the contest was an April Fools' joke. The waitress received an undisclosed settlement.
Perlman said he believed the restaurant in that case had actually been more honest than the radio station.
"A play on words like that you can get away with," he said.
Some people just have no sense of humor.
Grow up lady. You've been had for April fools. Learn to laugh so you have a good story for your grandkids rather than your grandkids learning that their grandma (a.k.a. 'role model') is a cold greedy bitch.
She's gonna win the case or a settlement though. The law pretty much says what her lawyer says it says..
I think its a good case. Don't let you mouth cash a check, your ass can't cover, kinda stuff.
After listening to some of the DJs (especially morning ones) on a few of the radio stations in my area, I can see where she would be very angry after a week of ridicule. IMHO, the station ought to cough up a real H2 for this housewife.
I agree.. I hope she wins actually.
These kind of contests are just ridiculously stupid and the radio station deserves to be kicked in the ass for pulling these stunts.
I'm not sure who is dumber, the woman or the radio station.. But I hope the radio station does have to cough up something.
Lighten up? They intentionally misled people to enter into a contest where they thought they were winning a vehicle, then at the end of the contest they go "HA HA! Just Joking!"
Turn the radio station inside out!
"Lighten up? They intentionally misled people to enter into a contest where they thought they were winning a vehicle, then at the end of the contest they go "HA HA! Just Joking!""
- I hate to break the bad news to you but that is the whole purpose of a practical joke. Nobody like being the butt of any joke but why should the radio station get punished over the gullibility of a stupid listener?
If the station is smart..they'll turn it to their advantage...offer her, and the other winner, a lease on a Hummer for say, three years..the cost will be a lot less..and get some good publicity..otherwise they're gonn alose..both the case, and PR
Don't get your undies in a bunch. This was APRIL FOOLS DAY. radio stations play jokes on APRIL FOOLS DAY. People get had on APRIL FOOLS DAY. THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!
IF YOU ARE DUMB ENOUGH TO NOT REALIZE THAT THE CONTEST IS ENDING ON APRIL FOOLS DAY YOU DESERVE TO BE HUMILIATED ON APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!!!
This whole thing reminds me of the time Taco Bell released an April Fools advertisement that they 'baught' the Liberty Bell and were changing the name to "The Taco Liberty Bell". People all over the country flooded Taco Bell's customer support lines hysterical and crying and threatening to sue.
The moral of the story is that there are stupid and gullible people everywhere that can't take a joke. This lady is no different. She should deal with it and move on. From the sounds of some posts it seems some of you should lighten up too.
Maybe because it's illegal to misrepresent a game prize?
The issue is quite simple. The Federal Government gave this radio station an exclusive license to do what nobody else is allowed to do - transmitt at its location and at its frequency. The Federal Government claims that this radio station is "operating in the public interest as a public trustee."If this prank was "in the public interest" it was so only to the extent that it teaches that the whole idea of anyone "informing" the whole people in the name of the government is a joke. That is exactly what the First Amendment says the government is not authorized to do.
What business does the government have affecting to speak authoritatively on how you should vote? None!
What business does the government have telling you who should be easy for you to hear, and who (the rest of us) just have to shut up, no matter how much we are willing and able to spend in order to make it possible for others to hear us?
None. But that is what the FCC and the Federal Election Commission are all about.
Hmmm.... Should any advertisement be able to be called a "practical joke" whenever a store or business establishment decides to not to honor it?
It's absurd anybody would defend the radio station here.
The lady was gullible?? Radio stations hold REAL contests ALL THE TIME with REAL prizes!!
I can't wait for you to win a million dollars in a radio contest and then have them laugh in your face as they hand you a couple stacks of rubber-banded Monopoly money.
I'm sure you'll just be laughing right with them, "Hahah Good one guys, you really got me there!!"
The station should pay through their crooked teeth.
No you don't.
TFormer Hooters waitress settles toy Yoda suit
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — A former waitress has settled her lawsuit against Hooters, the restaurant that gave her a toy Yoda doll instead of the Toyota she thought she had won.
Jodee Berry, 27, won a beer sales contest last May at the Panama City Beach Hooters. She believed she had won a new Toyota and happily was escorted to the restaurant's parking lot in a blindfold.
But when the blindfold was removed, she found she had won a new toy Yoda — the little green character from the Star Wars movies.
David Noll, her attorney, said Wednesday that he could not disclose the settlement's details, although he said Berry can now go to a local car dealership and "pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants."
After the stunt, Berry quit the restaurant and filed a lawsuit against Gulf Coast Wings, the restaurant's corporate owner, alleging breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation.
The restaurant's manager, Jared Blair, has said the whole contest was an April Fools' joke.
LOL.. Calm down little man. Somebody once told me, those who scream the loudest are usually WRONG..
Once again.. You are wrong, and the radio station should pay big time.
The contest played all week before April Fools you simple-minded soul with the punch-line ripping this woman on April Fools.
Again, read my other post.. I can't wait until you win $1 million dollars and they throw Monopoly money at you.
Your position is absurd and ridiculous.
"Maybe because it's illegal to misrepresent a game prize?"
The prize was a Hummer wasn't it? Not disclosing the dimentions of the prize or the fact that it was a toy car is not illegal. Is it illegal to play a practical joke? Nope...didn't think so.
I am not sure contests, by law, are unilateral contracts.
I really don't see where the consideration is.
True.But if you are willing to practice on people's credulity first day of April, don't be surprised if people don't trust you the rest of the year.
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