On March 8, 2023, Toronto’s CityNews reported that some entrants into Tim Hortons (Tim’s) iconic Canadian Roll Up To Win contest were notified via Tim’s app that they had won a $10,000 American Express pre-paid card, when the notification was the result of a technical error (see: Roll Up To Win players upset after $10K AMEX card win was result of technical error).
According to CityNews’ reporting, some contest entrants were notified via Tim’s app that they had won a $10,000 AMEX card stating “WINNER!*” that later disappeared from the app. The prize notification (which some entrants took screenshots of) was qualified by a disclaimer under the headline announcement stating “*to be verified”.
Tim’s digital support team later reportedly contacted the entrants that were incorrectly notified that they had won a prize informing them that a technical error caused the issue for a “small subset of Roll Up To Win players”.
In the past, this long-running national Canadian promotional contest was run by customers physically rolling up the rim of paper coffee cups in store in physical Tim’s locations across Canada. In recent years, Tim’s migrated its annual contest to an e-platform.
According to some entrants, they were offered a $50 Tim’s gift card instead of the $10,000 AMEX card they were first notified that they had won.
The technical issues that arose in this contest are an excellent example of the importance of having good contest rules (i.e., both short or “mini” rules and long contest rules) in place for a promotion in the event of a technical failure or other issue that affects the intended operation of the contest.
In this regard, Canadian contest rules commonly include rules that stipulate that the sponsor is not responsible for a wide range of technical issues that may arise during the promotion (including “technical failures of any kind”) and a right for the sponsor to terminate or amend the contest for any reason, including if the contest is not capable of running as planned or intended.
Good contest rules protect sponsors from potential regulatory complaints (e.g., Competition Bureau complaints) and litigation in the event that some entrants claim that a sponsor did not fulfill the terms of the contest. In this respect, in Canada contest rules have been held to be contracts between entrants entering a contest (i.e., agreement by performance) and the sponsor fulfilling the terms of the contract (i.e., as set out in the contest rules).
In many cases, however, the risk that is more of a concern for contest sponsors when technical issues arise (e.g., false winner notifications, other issues relating to contest draws or prize substitutions) is the potential negative PR that, as in this case, can arise when entrants feel that the sponsor has not fulfilled the terms of the contest and can negatively impact a brand. In this respect, some sponsors elect to award an entrant that has not technically won the contest the prize in any event in order to manage potential negative PR risk.
In this case, there is an additional potential misleading advertising issue in that some entrants were reportedly notified that they were a “WINNER!*”. While the notifications included a disclaimer in close proximity to the notification stating “to be verified”, there is nonetheless a risk in making literally false headline marketing related claims to consumers where there is an attempt to modify or qualify a headline claim may be literally false.
The Competition Bureau has taken the enforcement position in the past that a disclaimer cannot cure an otherwise literally false headline marketing claim. For more information on disclaimers under Canadian advertising law, see: Disclaimers and General Impression Test.
For more information about Canadian contest law, see: Contests, Contests and CASL, Contest/Sweepstakes FAQs and Contests and Social Media.
********************
CONTEST RULES/PRECEDENTS
Do you need contest rules/precedents
for a Canadian contest?
We offer many types of Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents and forms (i.e., Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents to run common types of contests in Canada). These include legal precedents for random draw contests (i.e., where winners are chosen by random draw), skill contests (e.g., essay, photo or other types of contests where entrants submit content that is judged to enter the contest or for additional entries), trip contests and more.
Also available are individual Canadian contest/sweepstakes precedents, including short rules (“mini-rules”), long rules, winner releases and a Canadian contest law checklist.
For more information or to order see: Canadian Contest Law Forms/Precedents.
********************
SERVICES AND CONTACT
We are a Toronto based Canadian competition law and advertising law firm who helps clients in Toronto, Canada and the United States practically navigate Canada’s advertising and marketing laws and offers Canadian advertising/marketing law services in relation to print, online, new media, social media and e-mail marketing.
Our Canadian advertising/marketing law services include advice in relation to: anti-spam legislation (CASL); Competition Bureau complaints; the general misleading advertising provisions of the federal Competition Act; Internet, new media and social media advertising and marketing; promotional contests (sweepstakes); and sales and promotions. We also provide advice relating to specific types of advertising issues, including performance claims, testimonials, disclaimers, drip pricing, astroturfing and native advertising.
For more information about our services, see: services
To contact us about a potential legal matter, see: contact
For more information about our firm, visit our website: Competitionlawyer.ca
