http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/16/hooters-health-care/The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — one of the Obama administration’s staunchest opponents — is using “incentivized” web ads to get people involved in their campaign to fight health care reform. The incentive? A $150 gift card for Hooters. TPM Muckraker reports that pop-up ads offer readers the gift cards in exchange for completing surveys, one of which is sponsored by the Chamber and urges people to sign up for free emails about “how to protect your family’s future and bring common sense solutions to the health-care debate”:
The Chamber contracts with Adfero Group, a PR firm specializing in web outreach. Adfero then sub-contracts with an online marketing firm that handles the process of actually signing people up for the Chamber’s campaign, an industry source explained. The Hooters card is the draw. Blinking pop-up ads and web pages offer readers the card in return for entering their names and personal information, and filling out a survey asking if they want to sign up for various offers. … If other online campaigns are any guide, readers who sign up to receive the Chamber’s anti-reform emails are then enlisted in the business lobby’s campaign in a more active way — for instance, by being asked to send letters to lawmakers.
It’s ironic that a restaurant gift card is being used to entice a “grassroots” fight against health care reform since many waiters work without health insurance. While Hooters does provide coverage to its hourly wait staff, only 54 percent of restaurants nationally covered their waiters.
Update TPM has corrected its original report, noting, " A spokesman for Adfero tells TPMmuckraker that although the PR firm has worked on other campaigns for the Chamber, it did not work on this one, as we had previously reported. We regret the error."
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