Ottawa, March 26, 1999 – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released its decision concerning a broadcast of the Larry and Willy Show on CFOX-FM (Vancouver). The Council received a complaint concerning a contest which promised a prize (excellent tickets to a forthcoming Bryan Adams concert) to the first caller who could give the morning show hosts Bryan Adams’ middle name. Although not evident in the beginning, it soon became clear after a few “unlucky” callers (with the correct answer) that the hosts were not in fact looking for the pop star’s real middle name; rather they were looking for a “spoof” name, made up by them. The complaint came from an aggrieved contestant, the one who first provided the “correct” answer.
The B.C. Regional Council considered the complaint under the Radio Station Contests and Promotions provision of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics. As this was the CBSC’s first opportunity to interpret the meaning of that clause, the Council’s decision set out the general framework for considering complaints under that heading. In the Council’s view, the wording of the provision ”suggest[s] that a notion of ‘fair play’ should also be at stake in such contests or promotions.” It considered that Larry and Willy’s “spoof contest” breached the Code on that count. The Council stated that it had “little doubt that the application of common societal standards would lead any fair-minded person to conclude that the contest was ... not legitimate to the consumer/listener.”
[T]he Council notes that the hosts’ choice in setting up the contest as a joke is not the issue. There is certainly no requirement that radio contests be serious. What is the issue is that the contest was conceived and conducted in such a way as to be misleading. Callers had a legitimate expectation that they would win the prize if they were the first to answer the relatively easy question correctly (as stated by the broadcaster, “It is fairly common knowledge that [Bryan Adams’] middle name is Guy, since he performed under that name for a number of years here in Vancouver in his earlier career.”). In fact, the caller who was first in providing the “correct” answer was not awarded the prize. The Council reiterates that it is not that the hosts sought a “spoof” middle name for Bryan Adams which offends the Code; rather it is that the contest was conceived and conducted to make it look as if they would award a prize for a certain answer when in reality they did not intend to do any such thing. Such a contest offends the generally accepted notions of fairness and fair play and therefore cannot be said to be in conformity with the requirements of Clause 11 of the CAB Code of Ethics.
Canada’s private broadcasters have created industry standards in the form of Codes on ethics, gender portrayal and television violence by which they expect their members will abide. They also created the CBSC, which is the self-regulatory body with the responsibility of administering those Codes, as well as the Code dealing with journalistic practices created by the Radio Television News Directors Association Canada (RTNDA). More than 430 radio and television stations and specialty services from across Canada are members of the Council.
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All CBSC decisions, Codes, links to members' and other web sites, and related information are available on the World Wide Web at www.cbsc.ca. For more information, please contact the National Chair of the CBSC, Ron Cohen, at (###) ###-####.