In Twenty Five Words or Less

If this phrase means something to you, welcome to the over-50 club! These days (i.e. for the last 35 years!) most contests that people enter by writing their names on a coupon or an entry blank are sweepstakes. When I was young, contests on the back of cereal boxes required some additional element, such as drawing a picture, writing a joke, or composing a poem. I must have been about ten when I entered a contest printed on the back of a box of Nestle's Quik, a chocolate milk powder. I had to write, in twenty five words or less, why I like Nestle's Quik. I don't remember what I wrote, but I won a watch!

It was disappointing that, a few years later, the contests changed to becoming straight draws. (Of course, my earlier win could have been drawn from the hat, too...I'll never know.) Evidently, the Canadian government very strongly disagreed with the change, because they brought in the infamous skill-testing question rule. Apparently, voters (or some prominent legislators) objected strongly to people winning money without actually demonstrating that they deserved the prize. From then on, to claim the prize you had to earn your prize by computing 9 times 8 divided by 4 minus 3.

I still see the skill-testing question on some sweepstakes entry blanks, so I guess the law is still on the books. I wonder if it has ever been enforced.