I like the “Remember Whens.” Like when someone asks you, “Remember when Captain Kangaroo got drenched with thousands of ping pong balls at the directive of Bunny Rabbit?”
There are a lot of “Remember When” moments on TV.
Like this next one.
On September 13, 2004, Oprah Winfrey gave away a big bunch of cars. It was such a crazy thing.
She happily gifted a brand-new Pontiac G-6 sedan worth $28,500 to everyone in her studio audience: a total of 276 cars in all. That works out to $7,866,000 total. Eight fat million dollars.
The world thought, “How completely generous of Oprah. A big round of applause for her, by golly.”
Oprah had told her producers to fill the crowd with people who “desperately needed” the cars. And there they all sat. She announced the prize by jumping up and down. She waved a giant keyring in the air. She yelled, in her Oprah voice: “Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!”
Of course, mayhem broke out. The people screamed. They cried. It was complete delirium. Some people even fainted.
It was, as one media expert told a reporter, “one of the great promotional stunts in the history of television.”
Oprah. The Saint.
But wait. There’s more.
You see, a scandal wasn’t far behind.
For one thing, the gift wasn’t really from Oprah at all. Nope. Pontiac had donated the cars. They paid the $8 million price tag out of its advertising budget.
Pontiac hoped that the giveaway would drum up some enthusiasm for its new G-6 line. The car company also paid the state sales tax on each of the automobiles it donated.
But there was a catch for all those needy people. Those good folks were left with a large bill for their supposedly free vehicles. They had to pay federal and state income taxes added up to about $6,000 for most of the winners.
Some of those people paid the taxes by taking out car loans. Others traded their new Pontiacs for cheaper, less souped-up cars.
Two months later, Oprah hosted another giveaway. This time, the audience was full of teachers from around the country. Their gifts were worth about $13,000 and included a $2,249 TV set, a $2,000 laptop, a $2,189 washer/dryer, and more.
The show’s producers also gave each audience member a check for $2,500, which they hoped would cover the tax bill for all the loot.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. Most people in the audience owed the Internal Revenue Service between $4,500 and $6,000.
But here is the main thing. Oprah’s PR gimmick worked. Those Oprah’s giveaways earned some of the highest ratings in the program’s history.
“And you get a car. And you get a car.”
And you get scammed. And you get scammed.
“””””””””””
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” – Mark Twain
“”””””” ‘” “”””
“Deceit is the game of the weak, and truth is the game of the strong.” – Ray Roberts
“””””””””””
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway
“””””””””””
And you get a car. Yeah. Right, Opie.
