The Supers

The Supers
Our growing superfamily

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Cute Kid Debacle

Debacle is a great word. This is probably not an ACTUAL debacle, more of one of those little non-events that make my life somewhat interesting and slightly humourous.

I heard on the radio of this contest of cute kids in which you could win a brand new car. Check it: a BRAND NEW CAR. Do I actually need a brand new car? No. Could I even fit my entire family into the car they were offering? Again, no. But I DO have cute kids, and I DO love to win things, so I figured I had this in the bag and should enter immediately. Without delay. So I sped home, whipped the kids out of their carseats and powered up the old internet. I chose some adorable pictures of my children and entered the contest.

This contest lets the viewers vote on the cutest kids, rating each child out of 10. When voting began you could actually see the score of the child and where they stood in the ratings. I raised an eyebrow at this. I worked it though with facebook status updates, such as:

Sarah Davidson Hey! Somebody is voting my kids DOWN! I don't think I like this contest!

Followed by:

Sarah Davidson I suspect that some of the leaders are probably voting others down.

And then:

Sarah Davidson Okay so now I am feeling bad for the people whose kids are on the last page so I'm giving them all 10s because how mean is it to say somebody's kid is only a 2.5?! They could get stuck with that label for life! They'll start dating 4s even though they're really 7s and could possibly be dating 8s. It's just not right.

At this point I decided to email the guy in the promotions department to mention this alarming fact. We do NOT want 7s dating 4s if they can get 8s. Right?

12/02/2011

To c___@radio.astral.com

From:

SuperMommy

Sent:

February 12, 2011 2:05:52 PM

To:

C__@radio.astral.com

Okay so I entered my kids in your cute baby contest thinking, why not, it's time those little ingrates started earning their keep. I am shamelessly exploiting my kids trying to win a new car. And I don't even need a new car. I'm told these are the types of hobbies housewives should have. Seemed like a good idea at the time. My kids are usually pretty cute when they're not driving me completely insane at the market or even better, in the bank. They're good kids. We like them.
So I've come to realize this voting thing is kind of mean but more importantly, could be really damaging! I am feeling bad for the people whose kids are on the last page so I'm giving them all 10s because how mean is it to say somebody's kid is only a 2.5?! They could get stuck with that label for life! They'll start dating 4s even though they're really 7s and could possibly be dating 8s. It's just not right. So anyways, I hope when you guys choose a winner you choose a 2.5 because I bet you last night's leftovers that some of those 7s are going around voting down all the babies that are uber-cute. So even if their KIDS are 7s the PARENTS are 2s and should just be ashamed.

Regards,

SuperMommy

It’s funny how the anonymity of the internet allows you to be cheeky to people you’ve never met. After that email they did change the contest so you couldn’t see the scores but the photos were still arranged by popularity. My status update:

Sarah Davidson It used to show their scores but they changed it. Now you can tell when you hit "browse" as it takes you to the first page. Mine have no chance though because every time a kid gets on that front page they get assaulted with low votes. It's really sad!

Could I stop there? Have we met? Of course I couldn’t. Not without a little more sass. Back to the old emailer:

To c___@radio.astral.com

From:

SuperMommy

Sent:

February 13, 2011 7:17:45 AM

To: c___@radio.astral.com

Don't know if you got the first one but that's okay as I often carry out one-sided conversations. I like that you took off the ratings and the rating order although I think you've underestimated the mental capacity of your rabid car-coveting mothers. Have you never watched Toddlers and Tiaras? These ladies are not your average Isn't-My-Kid-Adorable cut of mommy. They know that when you hit browse those kids are lined up nice and neat in order of votes and they assault the leaders with a barrage of low votes. Cutthroat. I've never seen such a thing.

Have a nice day!

SuperMommy

I can tell you whose kids AREN’T going to win this contest! :)

Anyhow, I did actually get a reply, which surprised the pants off me!

To Sarah Davidson

From:

McWilliam, Crosby

Sent:

February 13, 2011 8:35:09 AM

To:

SuperMommy

Hi Supermommy,

Thanks for your emails. We appreciate your observations and as you noticed removed the viewer on the ratings in order to protect the kids. We're working on another way of displaying the photos alphabetically in the hopes that there's no perception of who's in first, but it might take a day or so to make that active if our web people can do it at all...

Thanks again for writing.

Crosby McWilliam

Promotions Director

Virgin Radio

I find it equally interesting when you write someone with cheek and sass and they respond to you like you are a regular sane and reasonable person. He must deal with crazies all the time. I look forward to seeing if their web people are able to alphabetize.

2 comments:

  1. As a kid, I once entered a contest limited to children to win $35. I spent a lot of time on it. Eventually the prize went to an adult, who used her child's name.

    I learned an important lesson: that children, basically powerless and under threat of punishment, were expected to be honest
    and truthful at all times; but that adults, who wielded power, could cheat and lie whenever they liked. I saw it many times.

    ReplyDelete
  2. great job supermom.all kids are cute. pictures can lay in the beholder. not everyone can take a picture,and some are worth a thousand words[votes].lesson learned here is to speak or write your opinon,it can make changes

    ReplyDelete