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Free Champagne from Veuve Clicquot
Netlore Archive:  Free Veuve Clicquot champagne for forwarding an email? No way!

Description:  Email hoax
Circulating since:  Aug. 2000
Status:  False
Analysis:  See below		  

Email example contributed by Emily D., 8 February 2005:

FW: FW: Champers

Hello all Champagne lovers!

Send this message to 10 people, with a copy to champagne@veuve-clicquot.fr

Veuve Clicquot France will contact you in order to deliver to you a case of champagne in three weeks. They are producing a database and require email details.

It does work and you receive 6 bottles in 15 days.

Regards.


Email example contributed by A. Puris, 10 April 2001:

Subject: Champagne!

To all you Champagne Lovers.... Send this on to 10 people and cc to champagne@veuve-clicquot.fr and Veuve Clicquot France will contact you directly for your address and ship you a case of free champagne in 3 weeks. Obviously building up their databases, but what have you got to lose?

Enjoy!


Email example contributed by Beth Spiller, 12 Feb. 2001:

Subject: FW: Might as well try it out!

For all the alcoholics in the office....

Send this onto 10 people and cc to xxxxxxxx@veuve-clicquot.fr and Veuve Clicquot France will contact you direct for your address and ship you a case of free champagne in 3 weeks.

Obviously building up their databases, but what have you got to loose?


Email example contributed by Adam Mazmanian, 15 Dec 2000:

Champagne pour tout le monde!

Send this onto 10 people and cc to xxxxxxxx@veuve-clicquot.fr and Veuve Clicquot France will contact you direct and ship u a case of free champagne.

Ceci est une offre exceptionnelle!

Il vous suffit, pour gagner une caisse de 6 bouteilles de champagne, de renvoyer ce mail 10 personnes de votre entourage en y mettant en copie l'adresse suivante : xxxxxxxx@veuve-clicquot.fr

Vous serez ensuite recontact afin d'avoir votre addresse personelle et la caisse de champagne vous sera envoye sous trois semaines...

Tout est offert! Profitez en! Il n'y a absolument rien payer!

Les frais de port sont inclus.

Ce message fait partie d'une nouvelle campagne de publicit visant faire connaitre la marque Veuve Cliquot auprs des internautes.

Bonne journee, et bientot.

(L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la sante.)


Comments:   Malheureusement, c'est un canular — this is a hoax! It has become so widespread since its first appearance in French in August 2000 that French champagne maker Veuve Clicquot continues to greet all visitors to its Website with a pop-up message disavowing it. No one knows who authored the original email, nor who translated it into English.

The "free champagne" prank is a copycat of previous phony freebie chain letters, most notably the Free Coca-Cola hoax of January 2000. New variations of this same tiresome prank appear regularly.

See the excellent French-language site HoaxBuster.com for more on this and other Netlore circulating en français.


Email This Article


Further reading:

Pop the Cork on Another Internet Myth!
Information Week, 28 June 2001

Phony Freebie Chain Letters
Free clothing, free food, free computers — they're all yours, just for forwarding an email!


Last updated: 02/15/05)


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