Isles share AFP
sweepstakes settlement

From staff and wire reports

Hawaii will receive $50,000 as part of a multi-state settlement with American Family Publishers to put an end to misleading and illegal sweepstakes solicitations.

American Family Publishers will stop promoting sweepstakes by telling people "You're our newest winner" and pay a total of $1.25 million to 25 states, under an agreement announced today.

"Today's settlement sends a message to all solicitors that marketing through trickery and half-truths will not be tolerated," said Jo Ann Uchida, executive director of Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection.

"Advertisements should not be built on small print and footnotes; instead, consumers should be able to rely on an ad's most prominent messages." The state will use Hawaii's portion to prosecute existing and future consumer enforcement activities.

In New Jersey, where today's deal was announced, American Family Publishers has "finally been stopped in the misleading scam they have been running all these years," said Michigan Attorney General Frank J. Kelley, part of a task force investigating AFP's practices.

Under the agreement, AFP cannot tell consumers they are "winners" or have already "won" a prize unless that has happened. AFP also must tell consumers that they do not have to buy a magazine subscription to enter the sweepstakes.

AFP's promotions feature Ed McMahon and Dick Clark and are mailed to 200 million people each year. The company is a subsidiary of Time-Warner Inc.

In January, an 88-year-old man from California flew to Tampa, Fla., for the second time in the mistaken belief that he could collect his sweepstakes winnings after he was confused by an AFP promotion that said: "You're our newest $11 million winner."

The agreement does not prevent the states from suing AFP.

On Friday, the company announced its own program that goes "above and beyond the agreement," spokeswoman Margot DeWitt said.