Who isn't fascinated with the idea of the sweepstakes? After all, these are contest that really don't need you to be smarter or faster or prettier than anyone ? you just need to be luckier. You just need to be picked, out of all the other participants, by fate. And you would find that you do in fact own that Ford Fusion, or you are in fact going on an all-expenses-paid trip to England with your best friend. It may even not be that complicated ? you could just win a few thousand dollars (extra money that you may need in the long run) for all you know.

But the appeal is still very easy to understand: you win something for hardly anything at all. Maybe all you need to do is buy a certain product and you would have a fighting chance for, say, a certain amount of money that the sponsor company is offering. Or perhaps you could just call in to a line, or log on to the internet to either send emails or join online trivia contests. The point is for you to support the product and leave your name (as well as your contact details) for their use. It's a great way to win something, and a wonderful means of engaging all of us consumers. All we need to live a kind of dream, these promos suggest, would be some effort and a . After all, what is this but not another face of hope?