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American Family Publishing, a Jersey City, New Jersey based company that sold magazine subscriptions, was best known for running sweepstakes where a large amount of money was offered as the grand prize (typically several hundred thousand dollars or even larger amounts of money). The winner was claimed to be chosen at random among all who respond to the sweepstakes, regardless of whether a magazine subscription was purchased. The skyline of Jersey City, as seen from Lower New York Bay. ...
Official language(s) None defined, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 47th 22,608 km² 110 km 240 km 14. ...
A sweepstakes is technically a lottery in which the prize is financed through the tickets sold. ...
The company's tactics attracted controversy, since the mailings that accompanied the sweepstakes promotions, which invariably included a form via which the recipient could purchase magazine subscriptions, frequently included language indicating that the recipient had already won a prize, or was a finalist who had improved chances of winning a prize, when this was not the case. Television exposes have also aired that claim to reveal, through garbology, that the entries of people who did not order magazines were thrown away rather than entered into a random drawing. A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. ...
Garbology is the study of refuse and trash. ...
In a related phenomena connected to the company's promotion tactics, news stories reported cases of elderly Americans travelling to Florida in an effort to collect the money (the company, at least for some time, routed their mail through St. Petersburg, Florida), that they believed they had won, because of the promotional language contained in the sweepstakes entry forms. Old age consists of ages nearing the average lifespan of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 22nd 170 451 km² 260 km 800 km 17. ...
Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland...
These claims eventually led to litigation by several states' attorneys general against the company, resulting in court orders requiring changes in the way the company promoted the sweepstakes. This resulted in the company, which was 50% owned by Time, Inc. filing for bankruptcy. The parent business of American Family Publishing, American Family Enterprises, has also filed for bankruptcy. ...
Notice of closure stuck on the door of a computer store the day after its parent company, Granville Technology Group Ltd, declared bankruptcy (strictly, administration - see text) in the UK. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ...
Trivia
Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a competitor to American Family Publishing that ran similar sweepstakes. The two companies were often mistaken for each other. PCH continues to remain in business and promote its products by means of sweepstakes. Publishers Clearing House was founded in 1953 by Harold and LuEsther Mertz and their daughter, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore. ...
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