American Family Publishers
American Family Publishing, a Jersey City, New Jersey based company that sold magazine subscriptions, was best known for running contests in which a large amount of money was offered as the prize, typically several hundred thousand or even larger amounts. The winner was claimed to be chosen at random among all who respond to the contest, regardless of whether a magazine subscription was purchased.
The company's tactics attracted controversy, since the mailings that accompanied the contest promotions, which invariably included a form via which the recipient could purchase magazine subscriptions, frequently included language indicating that the recipient had already won a prize, or was a finalist who had improved chances of winning a prize, when this was not the case. Television exposes have also aired that claim to reveal, through garbology, that the entries of people who did not order magazines were thrown away rather than entered into a random drawing.
In a related phenomena connected to the company's promotion tactics, news stories reported cases of elderly Americans travelling to Florida in an effort to collect the money (the company, at least for some time, routed their mail through St. Petersburg, Florida), that they believed they had won, because of the promotional language contained in the contest entry forms.
These claims eventually led to litigation by several states' attorneys general against the company, resulting in court orders requiring changes in the way the company promotes the contest. This resulted in the company, which was 50% owned by Time, Inc. filing for bankruptcy. The parent business of American Family Publishing, American Family Enterprises, has also filed for bankruptcy.
Trivia
Publishers Clearing House is a competitor to American Family Publishing that ran similar sweepstakes. The two companies were often mistaken for each other.