Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993                   TAG: 9309010052
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SHUCKS, OF COURSE SHE'S NOT FOR REAL - SHE'S IDEAL

Davis seems so real that the Dictionary of International Biography wanted to list her. She draws loads of mail from the magazine's readers.

And why not? She has the potential of influencing more than 100 million readers with her Buy-Words advertising column, begun in 1970. And most of us hear from her as often as from our mothers, because her signature appears under those friendly little notes that accompany Reader's Digest mailings for its sweepstakes.

But Carolyn Davis, like many marketing persona, doesn't exist, except in the imagination of DeWitt Wallace. The Reader's Digest publisher created her in the 1930s to personalize subscription letters for the magazine. If you weren't hearing from her, you might hear from CD, which stands for credit department. Those were the initials that inspired Carolyn's name.

Lesta Cordil, who is real and is associate director of public relations for Reader's Digest, said Davis is such a fixture that she was written about in the company newsletter and employees with similar names get phone calls intended for her.

By the way, if you're not on the mailing list, you might not know that Reader's Digest is the grandmother of sweepstakes:

It was the first U.S. company to conduct direct-mail sweepstakes promotion, beginning in 1962. It now has international subsidiaries that conduct contests.

Through December 1992, it has awarded more than $8.9 million to more than 1.8 million people in the United States.

In 1993, 53,715 people won prizes. One person got $5 million; 53,395 got a wristwatch worth $109 for seventh place. In between, there were 250 who won $120; 50 who got $2,500; 10 who won $5,000, and three who won $10,000.

Odds of winning the grand prize were 1 in 199,500,000.

The company began mailing contest entries for 1994 by the time 1993 winners were selected in March. You may get several mailings. You don't have to send any back to be part of the contest, although sending more responses increases your chances.

You can't mention one sweepstakes without thinking about another - American Family Publishers.

AFP, which sells magazines at discount and sends out what seems to be never-ending mailings for its sweepstakes, has sent a message I like.

It is threatening to cut me from its list if I don't buy something.

AFP warns that rising costs are "forcing" it to drop "groups" of people from mailing lists. The mailing said the company will decide who to drop based on a point system that is cued to the number of orders you place.

However, if you call the company, 1-800-237-2400, you will learn that the threat is about as real as encountering RD's Carolyn Davis in the flesh.

"If you don't order in the next year or two, you might get dropped," a customer service representative said.

Also, if the faces of Ed McMahon and Dick Clark seem to be showing up with greater frequency, it may not be your imagination.

AFP usually draws for a grand winner each January. This year, it also drew for a winner in June. The mailings you're getting now, however, are for the January 1994 drawing.

One buy will get you an entry in the $10 million contest.

The Federal Trade Commission has told Osram Sylvania Inc. to dim advertising claims for its Energy Saver incandescent bulbs.

A proposed consent decree would prevent Sylvania from misrepresenting the amount of light generated by Energy Saver bulbs and how much energy consumers would save by using them. Claims that consumers will save money by using the bulbs must be accompanied by a statement that the bulbs burn less brightly than comparable regular bulbs.

The FTC said Energy Saver packages used large, black numerals to list the wattage of the bulbs they were designed to replace but gave the wattage of the Energy Saver bulbs in smaller, thinner print. It said packages also contained such statements as "full light output" or "as much useable light as an ordinary . . . bulb."

The FTC charged the Energy Saver bulbs provided less light than the ordinary ones they were sold to replace.

Last fall, GE agreed to settle similar charges that it had misrepresented its Energy Choice bulbs.