Fine wine hidden in small print is claimed
A BOTTLE of fine wine has finally been claimed three months after it was hidden as a prize in a website’s small print.
It was a test to see if anyone reads it.
The eagle-eyed winner was rewarded with a 10-year-old bottle of Chateau de Sales Pomerol, worth £35, for trawling through the terms and conditions.
Tax Policy Associates, a think-tank dedicated to improving understanding of tax issues, added the clause to its privacy policy as an experiment.
Buried in a paragraph of legalese, it said: “We will send a bottle of good wine to the first person who reads this.”
Founder Dan Neidle said the person who spotted it, three months after it was posted, was trying to write their own policy and had been looking at examples.
Protest
They emailed in the belief the wine had gone but found they were in luck and will now be receiving a bottle of the distinctive red Bordeaux.
Mr Neidle said he wrote the clause as “a childish protest” against all businesses having to have such a policy that “no one reads”.
He said: “Every tiny coffee shop has to have a privacy policy on their website, it’s crazy.”
Mr Neidle said the experiment was inspired by rock band Van Halen, who would ask for a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed as part of their tour rider.
It was a test to make sure promoters were paying attention to their requests.