For as long as there have been retailer giveaways, there has been the coveted prize of a shopping spree.  Now with retailers tightening their contest purse strings, we are more often seeing prizes worthy of the term ‘giveaway’, rather than ‘spree’.

To have a spree is to engage in sudden indulgence, carefree and perhaps careless behavior.  While it’s never favorable to look a gift horse in the mouth, it’s not proper to use such an ill-fitted term to market a contest.

With the average wage being what it is in the First World, I can’t fathom how a $100 prize can be considered a shopping ‘spree’, yet contests of this kind have spread like rapid marketing fire across kindling.

While the term spree will always be subjective to the earning of the individual entrant, the average middle class style conscious individual would not consider a total of $100 to be that of a spree.

Business offered spoils are always appreciated by willing recipients, but to take advantage of a term which does not apply to your event is terrible form.

Let’s all use the proper naming conventions, and break this horrible affair with inconsistency!