I participated in a giant marketing scheme and all I got were these lousy life lessons...

As some of you may know, I signed up to participate in the Prilosec OTC "We Want To Sponsor You" contest, also known as the Prilosec OTC "We Want To Get As Much Free Publicity As Possible" contest. The gist of this contest is that people sign up to become Officially Sponsored by Prilosec in whatever endeavor they are most passionate about.

If you know me, you know that I generally shy away from looking like a complete idiot if at all possible. Hence, I would normally approach this sort of contest as if it were, Oh I don't know, a rat toting around a flea infected with Bubonic plague?

So why did I say "Yes" this time?

1. Valle sent me the link and suggested I try to win some money for 5 for Fairness. The older I get, the more I am inclined to go where the tide is pulling me.

2. I watched this video on leadership and growing a movement and thought I'd better get used to looking foolish, stat.

3. I really AM passionate about fairness for girls in general and 5 for Fairness in particular.

4. I thought we might win enough money to get to our next grant.

5. And seriously, what did I have to lose but my pride?

So, on April 15, I announced my candidacy on my facebook page like this:
"I am selling out, looking like an idiot and begging for your votes. Just like a real politician. At least it's for a great cause!"

On April 16, I added this: " I am #21 of 71 contenders and hidden away on the 3rd page of the Community Service and Volunteerism section. I have thrown away all my pride. Your vote is all I need to get to the second page."

Is the theme emerging? The one about me not being afraid of looking like an idiot?

Things really did get rolling on April 16.
"Voting update: With 40 votes, I am tied with Patricia, the motivational speaker and one vote behind Brianna, the "difference in the world". Do I know what a "diference in the world" means? I do not."

By this time, something interesting had happened. The responsiveness of my good natured friends on facebook (hey, if you're not one, friend me whydontcha?) gave me both hope and energy and I found, much to my own surprise, that I was really having fun. Seriously, I'd sit at my computer composing updates and laugh hysterically to myself...
"OK, have overtaken Angela, the anti-stalking advocate, and have now set my sights on Luisa, the volunteer youth rappertour for Brazil. Don't ask. Just vote!"

I don't know if anyone else was laughing but I was having a great time. I was making good progress up the leader board. the votes kept rolling into my page and the tears of laughter kept rolling down my cheeks.

This went on for a few days, punctuated with updates like:
"Well, I'm back after a long day watching the world's worst spectator sport and, much to my delight, find that I have achieved my passionately, if briefly, held goal of making it to PAGE 1! For those of you who have watched as many reality TV shows based on Mount Everest as I have, I would say this is the equivalent of... reaching the Hillary Step. We've made it a long way up, but the hard part is still ahead. Happily, while I was lounging courseside in Long Beach, I left, Brittney, Morocco Volunteer, in the dust and sailed past, Shelli, teacher and mentor for young adults (I do feel a tad guilty about that. Oh well. Raising money is a contact sport.) Taking a breather now to show you what the summit has in store...

It is true, I did make gentle fun of many of my competitors, particularly Daniel (you can see him there, right behind me with his 123 votes) who said he wanted the money for a nice fishing boat "suitable for use on Lake Superior"! Why he was in the Community Service and Volunteerism section is best saved for another post. But I found myself right there among them and actually felt my sense of separateness diminish and, as it did, my admiration grew for many of them who really are doing great work in their communities.

But then, I realized something that took all the wind out of me and led me to post this:
"If I were one of those climbers on "Everest: Beyond the Limit" I would say this is one of those days when you wake up and don't want to leave your tent. Catherine, Sherrills Ford Optimist Park Activist and her 221 votes looms large. It's COLD out there. I have blisters. Every time I cough I wonder if I am developing altitude sickness. Maybe I should just stay inside and melt some snow for tea. What do you think? Should I stay inside or brave the social networking elements and shill for more votes?"

For fear of discouraging my supporters I did not tell them what I had discovered: turns out it was shockingly easy to CHEAT ON THE VOTING! I realized that all you needed to do to keep on recording votes for yourself was to keep registering - you could even use fake emails. Now I knew from reading the fine print (belatedly, I admit) that the number of votes anyone received only counted for 25% of the final judging but still....it really depressed me. On a side note, it also made me doubt the tactics of the first winner in my category who racked up a truly astonishing 2903 votes. To make things worse, I saw that the second winner in my category had won with 6, yes, 6 votes. How could this be? A close reading of his application held the answer. "Prilosec OTC affect on my frequent indigestion has been nothing short of miraculous!"

So, since I wasn't going to cheat on the voting or lie about my use of an over the counter heartburn medication, what chance did I have? I lost the will to go on.

In the lull of my depression, however, I did realize that while our voting process here on 5 for Fairness is more cumbersome than I would like, it is actually a whole lot fairer than the system Prilosec OTC and Procter & Gamble, with all their millions, bothered to come up with.

After my brief encounter with the realities of participating in a giant marketing scheme, I rallied and, with the help of my supporters (and the family members I could prod daily to vote for me) we did prevail and conquer Catherine, SFOPA.

That was good enough for me (especially since I realized that P & G seemed alarmingly vague about when and how the judging would take place. To wit, they don't say and essentially want people to go on and on and on sending other people to their site.)

So I realized that 5 for Fairness would be far better served if I focused my energy here, on our own little site, instead of feeding myself to the giant capitalist maw of Procter & Gamble.

I stopped shilling for votes. I thanked my supporters and promised to never ask them to visit the Prilosec OTC site again.

Much to my delight, however, 5 for Fairness continues to rack up votes! At last count, we are up to, my heavens!, 257. You can check the latest total here.

Who knows, we could still win something, perhaps the $231 we need to get to our next $5000. But if not, I have learned some valuable lessons:
1. Fair voting matters.
2. There is something freeing about making a fool out of myself in the service of a cause I believe in.
3. If I put half the energy I spent on getting those ridiculous votes on Prilosec OTC's site into getting all of us to vote here, on our site, we will have 100% of our members voting during the next round.

So, all in all, I'd say it was an instructive effort and I am glad that it's over. And since I do feel a little badly about the way I made fun of Catherine, Sherrills Ford Optimist Park Activist, I am now going to assuage my guilt by casting a vote her way.

There, I brought her to 228.