TESTING, PLS IGNORE
TEST TEXT
Motoring Press Release
DAGENHAM - With third-quarter sales sluggish and its share
of the
domestic market down 11 percent since 1993, Ford unveiled a
new
instant-win airbag contest on Monday.
The new airbags, which award fabulous prizes upon violent,
high-speed
impact with another car or stationary object, will come
standard in
all of the company's 1998 cars.
"Car accidents have never been so exciting," said Ford
vice-president
of marketing Roger Jenkins, who expects the contest to boost
1998
sales significantly. "When you play the new Ford Instant Win
Airbag
Game, your next fatal collision could mean a trip for two to
England's
opening World Cup match in France, or a year's worth of free
Esso
Unleaded."
Though it does not officially begin until Jan. 1, 1998, the
airbag
promotion is already being tested in select cities, with
feedback
overwhelmingly positive.
"As soon as my car started to skid out of control, I thought
to
myself, 'Oh, boy, this could be it-I could be a big
winner!'" said
Cambridge's Bernard Freeman, who lost his wife but won =A350
on Sunday
when the Escort Si they were driving hit an oil slick at 60
mph and
slammed into an oncoming truck. "When the car stopped
rolling down the
embankment, I knew Ellen was dead, but all I could think
about was
getting the blood and glass out of my eyes so I could read
that
airbag!"
"It's really addictive," said Plymouth resident Peter Noods,
speaking
from his hospital bed, where he is listed in critical
condition with
severe brain hemorrhaging and a punctured right lung. "I've
already
crashed four cars trying to win those World Cup tickets, but
I still
haven't won. I swear, I'm going to win those tickets-even if
it kills
me!"
Noods said that as soon as he is well enough, he plans to
buy a new
Mondeo LX and drive it into a tree.
Ford officials are not surprised the airbag contest has been
so well
received. "In the past, nobody really liked car crashes, and
that's
understandable. After all, they're scary and dangerous and,
sometimes,
even fatal," Ford CEO Paul Offerman said. "But now, when you
drive a
new Ford car or Iveco truck, your next serious crash could
mean
serious cash. Who wouldn't like that?"
Offerman added that in the event a motorist wins a prize but
is
killed, that prize will be awarded to the next of kin.
According to Ford's official contest rules, odds of winning
the grand
prize, a brand-new 1998 Scorpio Ultima, are 1 in 43,000,000.
Statistical experts, however, say the real chances of
winning are
significantly worse. "If you factor in the odds of getting
in a
serious car accident in the first place-approximately 1 in
720,000 -
the actual odds of winning a prize each time you step in
your car are
more like 1 in 31 trillion."
Further, even if one is in an accident, there is no
guarantee the
airbag will inflate. "I was recently broadsided by a drunk
driver in
my new Galaxy," said Cardiff resident Dick Yaknasty.
"My car was totalled, and because it was the side of my car
that got
hit, my airbag didn't even inflate. But what really gets me
is the
fact that the drunk driver, who rammed my side with the
front of his
1997 Explorer, won a gift certificate. That's just wrong." |
