Well, they got me again. I do know enough not to be sucked in by Cambodians promising millions, but somehow, when I'm asked my opinion, I can't help myself.
This group - Audience Studies - said they were testing a new TV sit com and since I fit into their demographic, would I watch the show and give my opinion? I would receive the CD on Monday, must watch on Monday and would be called Tuesday.
I didn't get the CD until Tuesday, but faithfully followed instructions - including filling out a form regarding product preferences - smooth or crunchy? Which of 12 kinds of seasoning salt? I should have known.
Then I watched the CD - The Rocky LaPorte Show. Let's just say it probably wouldn't harm the kids to watch. I had never heard of Rocky LaPorte, who apparently is a stand up comic. If he wrote this, he wouldn't make the first cut for Last Comic Standing.
I followed the instructions to fill out another, almost identical, form regarding product preferences.
Then they called and wanted to know when I'd watched and wanted to call back tomorrow since it was important to survey a day after watching. "Now or never," I said, so he deigned to continue. Did I watch the CD? Did I fast forward through the commercials? (aha!) Now, before discussing the show, a few questions about detergent preferences.
"Hold on," I said. "I'll tell you what I think of the show, but I'm not answering all these questions about products. I'm not interested in doing a marketing survey. "
After some argument from the caller, who said that the questions must be answered, I wished him a good day and hung up.
Do companies really pay for the results of this "survey"? Do they think they are getting good information about their products?
After listening to Augusten Burrough's books A Year of Magical Thinking and Possible Side Effects hearing about his experiences in the advertising world, I'd say companies who fall for this sort of "market research" should have their collective heads examined.
They won't get me again!
Pandemics and time away and stuff.
3 years ago
33 comments:
Great! They are still running the same DVD poll. Just watched that aweful show....I am not doing a market survey on products...can't wait for my call tonight.
Thanks
a-ha...after watching said show (which was awful) and seeing commercials imbedded...I googled Mr.Rocky. Thanks for the heads up.
The show was dreadful and I will not be answering their questions about the commercials...
Here I am, yet another sucker. The program was indeed a complete disappointment, but so are the so-called "prize" options! $100 worth of my choice of Brillo pads or Oil of Olay anti-wrinkle potion. Oh please... I shall do my best to enjoy the debriefing telephone survey tomorrow.
I just finished watching the pilot, I wish I would have googled the show before I did.
I found the prize package survey insulting, and I wish I could contact every company on that list and complain.
Has anyone actually won any of these prizes?? I think this is a huge scam to make people watch advertising.
Those commercials were horrible. How old is this pilot?
Rocky himself delivered a lackluster performance for his own namesaked pilot.
Donna, Chicago
Another sucker here. What a waste of over an hour of my life. The telephone interview was much more painful than having to watch the show. The interviewer was hard to hear and understand, and was not satisfied with my answers. He kept wanting to know more and more about a 20 second commercial. I better be getting some face cream in the mail soon.
Add me to the list of suckers. Once I saw the packet, I knew it was more about the products than it was about the show, but I'm one of those people who, once they agree to do something, aren't inclined to back out.
I wish the whole thing really was about the show, because then my answers might have spared others the pain of actually having to watch it someday. Words that come close to describing it? Trite, juvenile, hackneyed, an insult to my intelligence, horribly cast, poorly acted, lacking in substance, plotless.
And don't get me started on the commercials and the endless questions. I spent an excruciating hour answering questions from a woman whose accent was very hard to understand and whose grasp of the English language meant she was unfamiliar with words such as trite and witty.
I don't want the products, just my 90 minutes back!
I so wish I had found this website before my 1/2 hour telephone survey! I thought their was something weird about commercials on the dvd & then they hardly asked any questions about the dvd! Which was horrible! I only googled "the Rocky Laport Show" just to see if they were actually making a show & now I see it's just a scam, I guess advertisers are finding other ways to have their commercials viewed with all the dvr-ing going on! I never watch a commerical anymore!
Sept 9, 2008 They are still doing it. My son googled it for me when I got suspicious. They will get an earfull tomorrow. I'll be turning it over to my local TV station and see if they want to run a story. Thanks for all the info!!!!!!!!
Add me to the list of suckers! It's still circulating and the show has not in the least improved. I knew it was a product survey as soon as I got the packet. I only suffered thru the 30 min call to make sure thet finally heard my two cents on how bad the show was(yes, he's really a comedian and its a real pilot). I highly doubt anyone ever receives their coupons for seasoned salt and air freshener! Thanks for the post!!
Thank You Google! After three minutes of the show and then a Campbell's Soup commercial, they ran the title credits "Rocky Laporte Show." Thankfully, I found your site and I now know what I have gotten myself into. An hour on the phone of questions about products? No possible way will I do that.
The show itself looks just okay, but I just don't want to waste my time on it. I've gotta return some DVDs to the Redbox machine by 9PM or I'll get charged for another day. Maybe I'll just watch the commentary or deleted scenes from the rented "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" DVD instead of this marketing DVD.
"Brian" called us a bunch of idiots for "not doing what we said we would do." but we were told we would view a TV show and then be asked our impressions of the show. there was no mention of commercials. focus groups exist for TV pilots, that's how execs decide to develop a show! that's what we were deceived into thinking we were a part of.
that said, i sure am glad i googled rocky laporte before i watched the whole thing.
i finally talked to the outsourced indian lady on the phone when she called for the 10th time, thinking i would tell them what i really think. when she began to go through the name of each product, i had to get off the phone. i had more important things to do with my time, like comment on a blog about this mess!
Oh I answered their questions...just not in the way they expected!
As soon as I received the packet I was also suspicious. Fortunately for me, my DVD player refused to play the DVD, enabling me to Google Rocky LaPorte and find this forum! I agree with an earlier comment; since I said I would do it, I was prepared to watch it even though I was fully expecting some sort of product placement instead of the market researchers being concerned with the actual show. Now I don't have to waste my time, I can just tell the caller that it didn't work and that I didn't agree to do an evaluation on products, but on a TV show. This is misleading solicitation and should be stopped! Thanks, everyone, for the info that validated my gut feeling on this one. And no, I won't be answering my land line again!
Haha I just did this survey today! Ya i watched the show yesterday and it was total crap. Just another generic sitcom that wasn't very funny at all. But my cousin did a similar thing and actually won the raffle for all the free stuff they offer...not that he was that excited about it. It was a harmless survey, but a waste of time. Just skip out on it
I got the same call; never actually watched the show until right now...I'm about halfway through it. They never called on the day they said they would, but.....
.....they sent me the prize I "won" for "participating"- a $100 American Express Gift Check!!!!!
Not a scam, but definitely odd.
Ugh I fell for it too! We are a Nielsen Household, but usually for movies, so I didn't get wise until 2 minutes into the call. I then flipped a switch and answered as bizzarly as possible. Oh well.
I'm taking part in the same study, mainly because the lady who conducts market research at the local shopping centre is lovely and me and my friend always help her out. The show was terrible, and I'm looking forward to my call tomorrow so I can tell them it should never be aired. And, to be honest, I don't mind answering their questions about products, doubt anyone will win the crap prizes though.
I totally fell for this yesterday, found this post by Googling these clowns. I am just like you, total sucker when asked my opinion on something. And dear god was that "show" horrible.
I point blank told the guy on the phone that I would never buy the product because now I associated it with terrible fake tv shows and marketing scams.
Gosh, this has been going on for a very long time, with the same silly pilot? I have received and watched a DVD in the past to review a pilot, and that's exactly what that was. This on the other hand, as soon as I opened it, knew it was about the products. I don't mind doing surveys but I expect honesty upfront, not to be duped into wasting my time. I suppose I will answer the questions tomorrow, but they better be quick about it!
I watched the dvd and filled out the marketing crap. The three brands of focus were Vick's, Bounce, and Oil of Olay which are all owned by Proctor & Gamble. I suppose they can be blamed.
Hi--another sucker here! I just answered the survey questions. They must have several versions of this dvd (same show, different commercial). I was asked about Swiffer and coffee. When I said that my household doesn't drink coffee, I still had to suffer through the questions. The show was terrible and I am too embarrased to tell the people at work that I was duped into an advertising scam.
wow, over two years later and here i am watching the same stupid pilot. at least i can stop watching it now.
I just answered the survey questions today, and it was pretty obvious that the focus was the products, not the show. (In my case, diapers were the focus.) However, I fail to see this as a "scam" as a few people have called it. It's not a ploy to get more people to watch their ads, either - this is simple market research. They don't tell you what they're doing because that's part of the technique. The whole point is to see if your opinion is swayed by television advertising. If you knew ahead of time, they wouldn't be able to test the effectiveness of the ad on a regular TV audience.
I really don't see what everyone's problem is. I was asked to give my opinion and I gave it. I don't much care whether it was about a product or a potential TV show (which really was awful).
Another 10 days, method still running. Mine was about nasal spray. If you've never had a half-hour interview about nasal spray with a woman you could barely hear or understand, you've missed out.
The interviewer actually asked me if I'd seen the show before.
I did this because I thought it would be cool to watch a show and review it. As soon as I received the packet it was obvious it was about marketing but I watched the show anyway. For a standup comedian Rocky really has bad timing and stiff delivery! They called me on the day they said they would but I was busy so they called back the next day. The first caller had no accent, the second one did but I could understand her. My interview took a total of 10 minutes and she actually asked me a lot of questions from the survey about the show. Then she went to some product questions she asked me about 3 things I picked from each packet (c,m & q - then cc, mm, qq). I picked the same for both packets. The only one I remember being a commerical on the dvd was the covergirl makeup (I chose Revlon in both cases). She asked a few more questions and then that was it. They didn't even mention about a drawing or prizes and told me I could discard the dvd and paperwork. So there you go. I may not get anything for it but it was interesting. No harm done (I hope).
Hey, you'll never guess what happened to me tonight! ...right.
Same deal here. Seeing some "retro" commercials wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to me, but I wish they had been up front about it.
Ah, well. Tomorrow should be interesting. I may just tell them to cut the charade about the show and just get to the marketing questions.
I'm surprised that this show isn't on Wikipedia yet. Maybe that's a project for the future...
--LBD "Nytetrayn"
Well, I wish I'd googled this too before answering a truck load of questions. I knew this was a marketing ploy as soon as I opened the packet and then saw the commercials during the show. Although, I have to say, the show wasn't the best, but I did find it entertaining. Everyone here says it was horrible, but I thought it was cute and worth watching. Anyway, I was very irritated when the lady asked me to put the dvd back in and watch a commercial after I'd already answered a bunch of questions, and I told her I didn't have time (kids were getting cranky), but she said it wouldn't take long. Yeah right, watching the commercial didn't take long, but the million questions afterwards did!! Half the time I couldn't understand what she was saying! I'd have hung up the phone if I hadn't agreed to do the survey in the first place!
Yep, me too. That show was awful. I just hope I win the drawing now. How long will this show circulate?
They got me too! Just spent 28 minutes answering the follow up questions and giving my opinion on Flintstones Vitamins.
Man...I was on the phone for 30 minutes talking about yogurt...and the show was terrible. Why oh why didn't I google this before :)
And ... here I am February 2010 and it's still going on.
OY.
I watched thru the first commercial and have shut it off in favor of American Idol and the Olympics!
The DVD is playing here in my living room... right now. I figured what was going on when I filled out the first survey...
It's four years on... and I've just wasted an hour of my life on this stupid exercise. Same show, same crappy marketing materials. This guy is going to get an earful tomorrow.
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