MTV: Island Giveaway Contest With Cyndi Lauper & How It Failed
MTV Island Giveaway Contest with Cyndi Lauper SIGN UP for 10 of the Craziest Stories in Rock N' Roll [Secret Playlist]: https://bit.ly/3vVPAEF Check out our Top 25 Favourite Albums Here https://rockandrolltruestories.com/ Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Fill out our google form! https://bit.ly/3stnXlN ----CONNECT ON SOCIAL---- Instagram: / rocknrolltruestories Facebook: / rnrtruestories Twitter: / rocktruestories Blog: www.rockandrolltruestories.com #cyndilauper #mtv #puertorico I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos. I’ve covered a lot of MTV contests, but i think this one along with the one they did with the Police takes the cake as the worst contest the network ever did. Let’s explore what happened in today’s video . In 1988 MTV would team up with popstar Cyndi Lauper and Coca Cola as part of the companies ‘official soft-drink of the summer campaign’ to give away a 25 acre island off the coast of Puerto Rico along with a few other prizes. Lauper was also promoting her movie debut VibesHere’s the promo the network ran. Seems pretty awesome, right? Well things didn’t exactly go according to plan. MTV received half a million entries, It would be a video store employee from Pontiac, Michigan named Tracy Macdonald who won the contest. Coincidentally enough MacDonald had grown up in US Virgin islands and loved water sports so winning the contest was a dream come true. The network also offered MacDonald an alternative prize of $50,000 cash, something he initially said no to. Macdonald would declare at the time according to “I Want to be the king of my own island.” Alongside winning the island MTV would charter a Carnival Cruise Ship the MS Jubilee which would take 225 national sweepstake winners. Cyndi Lauper would draw MacDonald’s name and give him a royal robe, a crown and treasure chest for his island. When MacDonald started to dig into the weeds of what winning the island actually met, he was hit with the grim reality of the US government having their handout. If he were to actually go through with taking the island prize he would be required to pay tax on the island’s market value. Add to that, that 2x a day, high tides tend to submerge a large part of the island. Add to that, that if MacDonald wanted to build any kind of home on the island it would run into major obstacles including environmental red tape, and high construction costs, the grand prize wasn’t looking so good. According to vacation magazine, the politicians in puerto rico started taking sides and mtv who had an option to buy the island ended up being relieved when macdonald opted to take the cash prize instead. An mtv spokesperson would tell vacation magazines ‘maybe next year we’ll give away a nice quiet volcano.’
