By Jenny Suo
Bloggers are showing support for a boycott of the National Business Review and Veuve Clicquot, after a competition they jointly ran allegedly “robbed the rightful of their prize”.
NBR ran a competition to celebrate its 40th birthday in conjunction with Veuve Clicquote, where entrants were given the chance to win their weight in the popular champagne. The competition promoted a public vote and out of 16,000 responses, the online community chose “Busted Blonde” to win the prize.
But after the competition closed, NBR managing director Todd Scott contacted the entrant saying judges would decide an overall winner.
Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater has hit out at NBR and Veuver Clicqout’s “less than transparent” competition and has encouraged a boycott of both companies. An anti-Veuve Clicquot group has already emerged on Facebook and a significant number of bloggers have responded on their personal sites.
Kiwi Blog says; “My message to the National Business Review is that you have lost something infinitely more valuable than my subscription. You have lost both my respect and my trust. That is hard to do, and even harder to undo.” The entry was posted this morning has already received almost 40 comments of support.
A post on blog “Gonzo” says “I will never touch a drop of Veuve Clicquot as long as I live. Bollinger, yeah. Perrier Jouet, yeah. Pol Roger, OK. Moet, if you insist. But Veuve has lost its nerve. That's a flat fail right there.”
And “Clint Heine and Friends” posted; “It seems that the NBR has cheapened itself by even thinking it could get away with fooling its readers with such barefaced lies. And as for Veuve Clicquot? Their brand is now worth as much as the popular UK chav beverage, Lambrini.”
NBR will announce their competition winner in their 40th anniversary edition out this Friday.
3 News