Billions A Year?

This article has nothing to do with either creative writing or novels in general. It has more to do with 'how many times and in how many ways can I be taken' than anything else.
I recently purchased hair dye. Yes. I'll be the first to admit I hate those gray streaks. It was a top leading brand and there was a bonus enclosed. A code that might win you some bucks or a trip to exotic places. Go to their website and enter the code. They made it so easy. But did they?
This is the Internet, kid. Billions a year in income. Before entering the code you had to give your name, rank, serial number, address, DOB and practically promise your first born only to discover that you earned a point towards prizes. LOL Perhaps if I live to purchase a thousand bottles of their product, I might get to buy something good at a discount.
This seems to be the latest fetish among advertisers. Only they don't advertise; they get professionals to do it for them. You've seen the ads: Free laptop, Free iPod, Free this, Free that. The one I fell for recently was: Free-10 lbs of chocolate. Since I'm addicted I figured why not.
I entered the site and began a grueling trip for my chocolate. After entering the usual data, I was told to continue on for my chocolate. Like a mouse walking a maze for a piece of cheese, I followed the trail. 17 pages later, after being inundated with every ad on the Internet and checking off boxes promising to look at ads for such and such a company, I was still chasing my chocolate.
Finally I gave up. But by this time they had my name, address, email addy, the names of advertisers I was allegedly interested in and so on. So I received a ton of mail, 1/2 ton of email from these advertisers, but no chocolate.
The moral here is: if it sounds too good to be true , ignore it. And don't say I didn't warn you.