Let’s be honest: there’s a good chance that you’re reading this article on a smartphone right now. There’s also a good chance that you’ve been somewhat tethered to your smartphone from the moment you woke up this morning. In today’s digital age, and thanks to social networking apps like Facebook, there’s no denying that our reliance upon and addiction to smartphones has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade.
With that said, do you think you could go a full day without using your smartphone? How about a week or, say, a month? How about a full year? While most people would likely scoff at the idea of trading in their smartphone for a flip phone for a full year, what if someone was willing to make it worth your while? What if someone was willing to pay you $100,000 to give up your smartphone for 365 days? Well, now we’ve got ourselves a hypothetical worth exploring.
The only thing is, this isn’t a hypothetical. VitaminWater this week announced a new contest where a lucky contestant (or unlucky depending on your perspective) can win 100 grand for returning to a mid-2000s era feature phone.
If you want to enter the contest, you’ll have to post a photo to your Twitter or Instagram account, tag VitaminWater, and tell them why you need a year-long break from your smartphone. You also need to tell them what you would do to survive or pass the time over that year period. The company notes that you should add the hashtags #nophoneforayear and #contest to your social media post.
The guidelines to win the $100,000 are as follows:
- you may not use any smartphone for 365 days. if txting is a pleasant experience or you can get on the internet, it’s probably a smartphone.
- this means you may not physically operate, caress, hug or otherwise be physically affectionate with anyone’s smartphone
- if you’re lying in bed and miss your phone, do not attempt to sneak a midnight scroll… just close your eyes and dream about vitaminwater…
The submission deadline is on January 8, 2019, so make sure to get your social media post up over the next few weeks. Notably, you can submit up to four entries.
The winning entries will be based on the following criteria:
- Creativity and Originality of Submission (30%);
– presents idea in a fun and unique way - Cultural or Brand Relevance of Submission (30%);
– fits the brand tonality and persona - Humor of Submission (30%);
– relates to breaking the monotony for original and outside the lines reasons - Quality of Submission (10%)
– inclusion of proper grammar and spelling
– inclusion of high-quality photos and/or videos (if photos/videos are included)
Now of course, the obvious question here is how VitaminWater will make sure the chosen contestants keep up their end of the bargain. While details are scarce, the company does note that the verification process will include a lie detector test at some point.