Week 64: 1916 Chandler Popularity Contest: Shop Local!

Open

Ten years ago the term Cyber Monday was coined. Cyber Monday is the Monday after thanksgiving where several online shopping sites offer great discounts to encourage online shopping for the holidays.  Each year we hear that online shopping accounts for more and more of the holiday season sales. And for many years people have been predicting that eventually online shopping will threaten the very existence of local brick and mortar stores.

Back in 1916, this same prediction was being made. The only difference was that it was mail order houses, from Montgomery Wards to Sears Roebuck, which were predicted would destroy the local merchants. In fact, the Chandler Arizonan complained that, “There are hundreds of dollars going out of Chandler to mail order houses each week to the detriment of the purchaser, the home merchant who ought to receive the trade and the community in general.”

To combat this scourge on the local economy, the Chandler Arizonan and several local businesses collaborated on a contest that would encourage people to shop local.  Featuring a grand prize of a $400 piano along with other great prizes, the creators were certain that it would help the local businesses. Their contest would offend our modern sensibilities.  It was a contest not won by the most skilled, qualified, or lucky. It was a contest that can break up friendships and destroy a person’s self-esteem. So began Chandler’s first popularity contest for young ladies.

Starting on May 19, 1916, the Arizonan announced the popularity contest in conjunction with the White House Dry Goods Store, Monroe Hardware Company, Garner Drug Company, Williams Grocery and Meats, and the Chandler Hand Laundry.  Family and friends could support their favorite young lady by spending money at participating businesses.  For every dollar spent, consumers could earn 25 votes to cast.  But if someone really wanted to pile on the votes, they spent their money buying subscriptions to the Arizonan.  The paper gave 600 votes for every new $2 one year subscription; 500 votes for a one year renewal; 5,000 votes for a 5 year subscription; 12,500 votes for a 10 year subscription; and, for the low price of $40, someone could earn 30,000 votes for a 20 year subscription.  They hoped that no one would do the math to realize that 20 one year renewals would earn someone 100,000 votes.

Participants in the popularity contest had to be nominated officially using a nomination blank available in the Arizonan.  After one month of competition, more than 90,000 votes had been cast for 12 contestants.  Nine others had been nominated, but failed to gain any votes.  Miss Ida DeBolt held a 9,000 vote lead over her nearest competitor, Miss Mildred Lecky.  For being in first place after the first round of voting, Miss DeBolt earned a $10 gold piece.

After the second round of voting on July 20, Miss DeBolt had extended her lead over Miss Lecky and led by more than 13,000 votes.  Participants were urged by the Arizonan to canvass the neighborhood to solicit votes, and of course took a moment to note that newspaper subscriptions garnered the most votes.  It was also noted that some of the participants were upset that their friends were unwilling to purchase votes on their behalf.

One week prior to the close of voting, Miss DeBolt still held a sizable lead.  On August 15, the last day for voting, a tidal wave of votes flooded the ballot box at the Chandler bank, which was forced to stay open an extra hour or two.  Miss DeBolt deposited 70,000 votes herself that day, confident in her impending victory.  Miss Lecky brought in 40,000.  Then, just moments before the close of voting, Miss Lecky showed up with another 60,000 votes.  That put her over the top, and she won the popularity contest by over 17,000 votes.  The Arizonan congratulated her on the victory, and apologized that her piano had not yet arrived despite the fact it was shipped two weeks earlier.  She wrote a thank you note to her supporters in the paper, writing “if you come to my house I will play you a piece, when the piano comes.”  It arrived one week later.  The Arizonan, oblivious to the friendships that may have been strained or ruined due to the contest, proclaimed it a success as it resulted in over 150 new subscriptions to the paper. 

Unbeknownst to Chandler residents, the contest was not unique.  Obermeyer & Sons, the piano manufacturer, offered the same contest in small communities across the country including Beaverton, Oregon, and Tucumcari, New Mexico.  The contests’ impact on local economies is questionable, but it sure did the job of getting the Obermeyer & Sons name out.