The dirty ballad of AT&T and American Idol
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Technology, Relationships, Celebs & Money
As you may have heard, Kris Allen won American Idol last week. This week, the nail-biting continues, as a major American corporation is taking heat for facilitating some irregular voting that may have gotten him the throne.For the entire season, Adam Lambert was the preferred candidate by the judges and the guest acts alike (Bono gave special permission for him to perform his song, and Katy Perry had his name stitched on her cape). Fans loved him too: Lambert led the contestant pack in terms of song sales and souvenirs on eBay -- by a factor of eight.
But come verdict time, he got the silver. Last week, almost as soon as the final, abominable strains of Kara DioGuardi's "No Boundaries" had faded away, the conspiracy theories began. A TV station in Little Rock reported that AT&T told it that 38% of the 100 million votes cast for the new Idol came from Arkansas.
The station later retracted the report, but curiously, AT&T didn't actually deny it. Its statement merely read: "AT&T does not divulge or confirm how many votes were cast in any state."
Whether or not so many Arkansas residents had that much time on their hands (if it's true, it would work out to 13 votes for every man, woman, and child in the state), it's certainly true that AT&T is being accused of allowing Arkansas residents to stuff the ballot box for Kris Allen.
The New York Times reports that AT&T helped arrange two parties in Arkansas that permitted "power texting," which is the ability to send 10 texts at a time. Basically, AT&T arranged for two mass gatherings of Allen fans to increase their votes exponentially -- ten times as many, as a matter of fact -- as everyone else in America.
AT&T didn't arrange any such parties for Lambert, who hails from California.
The company doesn't deny the charges that it enabled irregular voting. "A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested," a rep admitted.
Incidentally, the small print at the end of American Idol's broadcasts notify viewers that text voting is only open to AT&T subscribers and subject to normal rates -- two stipulations violated by the "power texting" parties.
There was certainly something funny going on. It's starting to sound as if American Idol's vote tabulation takes place in a Louisiana parish or in a smoke-filled suite at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago.
A few media observers have wryly observed another statistical oddity: All of the Idol winners so far, and there are eight, have hailed from "red" states that voted for George W. Bush: Alabama, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, two from North Carolina, and now Arkansas. Some commentary is ludicrous ("the media salivated over a Lambert win, and had everything prepped to use that win to take a shot at Republicans," optimistically opined one agitating blog).
But the conservative-state trend is unmistakable. No blue-stater has ever won American Idol. And because Lambert, who by every available sales measure was poised to be the first, was euphemistically (and patronizingly) referred to as "flamboyant" and "theatrical" in the press, there are more than a few Americans who chalked his loss up to our cultural divide.
Lambert may indeed be a casualty of the culture war. But before his fans gather their pitchforks and go to war with their brothers, blue versus red, let's consider that his loss could actually be the fault of a big corporation. Someone from a mobile phone company may have turned the show -- and all the cultural symbolism lurking beneath it -- into a vapid marketing opportunity. In the act of that greed, it possibly torpedoed the result with power textings and set some Americans against each other.
Update: One Arkansas paper reported that a single Allen fan was able to vote 10,840 times at one of AT&T's "power texting" parties.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-27-2009 @ 6:11PM
MONEY TALKS said...
THE PROOF IS ALWAYS IN THE PUDDING -- I.E., THE PERSON WHO SELLS THE MOST MUSIC/SONGS, POST AI. REMEMBER CLAY AND RUBEN -- WHOM DID AMERICA SUPPORT THE MOST IN $$$, POST AI? THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE GOLD STANDARD FOR DETERMINING THE TRUE "AMERICAN IDOL" !
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6-03-2009 @ 7:44AM
Scarlett said...
HERE IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA OUR LOCAL APPROVED DIGITAL COMPANY DID NOT PROCESS ANY OF THE VOTES EITHER. WHILE DIALING IN THE FINAL FOUR WEEKS WE RECEIVED A MESSAGE THAT THIS CALL CANNOT BE DIALED FROM THIS SERVICE. THANK GOODNESS FOR CELL PHONES AND ANOTHER PROVIDER. I WONDER IF ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS. ADAM IS STILL THE WINNER IN MY BOOK. WTG!!! ADAM
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6-03-2009 @ 8:52AM
Edna Bourgeois said...
That stinks! And that is probably the reason that Danny Gokey lost to Kris Allen. If a couple of those "parties" were arranged, you can bet it was to get Kris into the finals. How far back does that go? Here in those "Louisiana Parishes" many...I repeat...many, thought that the final two would be Danny and Adam, with Kris coming in fourth...that's right...fourth, after Alison. And by the way, we did think that Adam would win. Throw appearance out the window, throw theatrics out the window and what remains? Talent! that's what Adam has and you can't take that away from him. Winner or loser, he was number one (1) in Season 8. I personally would never buy a Kris Allen CD, but I'll stand in line for Adam's or Danny's.
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6-05-2009 @ 12:01AM
Barb said...
can you say sore loser...I think all this hype stinks. Chris
Allen was the best singer by far on that show this year. Yeah Adam could perform but we shouldn't take away what Chris brought to the table. Perhaps if Adam had worn a little less makeup and didn't scream so much he would have been the winner. I loved Chris from the beginning. He was very gracious and humble even when he had the most talent. I say go Chris!!
6-03-2009 @ 8:54AM
becca said...
For pete sakes...this red state/blue state analogy is so bizarre so over the top...IT IS A GAME SHOW! Something fun to take your mind off the ugliness in DC and you have to ruin it by insinuating it in the show recap??
BTW who gives a flip who won...the fact is the top 10 truly won...they will find a way to fulfill their dreams if they are tenacious enough. Daughtery placed 5th If I recall correctly. I am quite sure Adam will do just fine.
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6-03-2009 @ 11:32AM
Lynda said...
I couldn't agree more!
This is the what people really need to be focusing on.
With everything thats going on today-
why does it have to come down to this??
With that in mind, I think its also important to point out that we the people need to take control of the free enterprise in this country. To let one company be so influential, so powerful, and able to get away with "manipulating" the system- is dangerous. We've all seen where that leads- hence GM.
6-03-2009 @ 6:45PM
Getting Real said...
Last, I had heard Kris Allen's ITune sales were ahead of Adam Lambert's.
Did nobody hear Kris' and Adam's reply to this on the Today Show?
Does California and the other Blue States want to admit that the Southern Red States out smarted them so BAD?
Enough is enough let them BOTH enjoy their new FAME! They will BOTH have Gold Albums.
On ending, look at American Idol. What is about?
Adam a polished performer that impressed from day one.
Kris a college student that was talked into trying out that matured during the course of the show.
Who is the hero? The underdog!
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6-03-2009 @ 10:59AM
Serena said...
This is all a joke. Does everyone really think that the creative liberal minds in this county did not know how to power text? Let's get real here they do not need big parties with instructions on how to get the most out of their {our} phones. So unless there is a away to screen out all power texting, let's get on to some thing important like buying their music!!!
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6-03-2009 @ 11:06AM
ricsongs said...
American Idol is a waste of everyones time, get a life folks!
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6-03-2009 @ 11:15AM
soapstix1 said...
Grow up people. This is just more hype for the reporters, who have little more to do than cause problems for other people. There was a lot of talent on this year, and prior years. Some people got work, even when it was predicted they would not, by a certain judge. It is what it is, and both Adam and Kris will do just fine without all the nastiness going on. I am so over the nay saying and carping about NOTHING.
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6-03-2009 @ 11:35AM
jer said...
If American Idol doesnt change the way people are allowed to vote, then the show will be dead by the end of next year. This isnt the first time the real winner was shut out. AT&T should be ashamed of themselves. Dancing with the Stars allows 10 votes per phone line. This is what American Idol needs to do. AND NO TEXTING ALLOWED. Im sure Simon and the rest are pissed that Adam didnt win. He was by far the most TALENTED!. But in the long run its going to help ADAM. Remember what happened to Chris Daughtry? or Clay Aiken? Lets face it, ruben and Taylor had no business winning.. just check the album sales. Adam will outsell them all!
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6-05-2009 @ 2:22PM
No Doubt said...
YOU'RE RIGHT! WHAT HAPPENED TO ADAM IS JUST PLAIN W-R-O-N-G! WHY WON'T THEY RELEASE THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF VOTES AND RESOLVE THIS UGLY CONTROVERSY???!!!
6-03-2009 @ 1:34PM
Truthteller said...
With the honey bees dying off due to cell phone usage, it is obscene to abuse the airways with the nonsense of phone-in voting!!! The only ones benefitting are the phone companies. The ones losing are the human race, which will also die off after the bees are gone.
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6-03-2009 @ 1:44PM
Two Talents said...
I liked more than just one contestant on AI8, but when it came down to the last 2, I chose Kris. I liked Kris more. Someone else like Adam more, fine. The Idol is still Kris.
Does it mean that I won't buy Adam CDs? No. So CD sales after the fact doesn't mean Adam is that much better...it just means that Kris fans are open minded enough to even buy Adam CDs.
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6-04-2009 @ 4:02PM
Callie said...
Lets think in reality for a moment. Sure, this may have happened, but really, Kris is also a good singer. Did you know that Queen invited Adam to be their lead singer? Adam has a bright future as well as Kris. I do agree that it is "red state versus blue state", though it is a game show. The unexpected happens. May both of them have a wonderful future!
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6-04-2009 @ 5:06PM
JJ said...
I know this post may come a bit late for anyone to read it. But think of the final three logically. People who voted for Danny in the top three would be more likely to vote for whom in the final two... If you took only half the votes cast for Danny in the top three and cast them for Chris (assuming the other half split between the two or didn't vote again) it would make Chris Win by a considerable margin. The same thing has happened before where two similar performers were splitting the same fan base and when one got knocked out the other got a lot more votes.
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6-04-2009 @ 6:38PM
SiSi said...
This whole thing is stupid. We should just let Kris Allen and Adam Lambert alone and stop trying to think up different conspiracies about how the votes were "rigged." Anyway, having been a Lambert fan earlier in the season, I wonder if everybody got sick of Lambert's screaming every song he sang, and voted for Kris instead. And, because Danny Gokey went out, all of his fans went to Kris' side because he was the most like Danny. So that's the way i see it.
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6-04-2009 @ 6:52PM
Lauts said...
I live in NJ and could not vote for Adam on my home phone (Comcast). I got absolutely nothing. No ring, no busy signal, no annoying noise or message that my call did not go through. Nothing.
This happened for the last few weeks of the show.
I had to use my cell phone with Verizon service.
I didn't try to vote for others so don't know if it was a dialing problem or an Adam problem.
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6-11-2009 @ 11:12PM
David said...
I wonder how old the reporter is that wrote this story ? He must be a product of the old Huey Long days, which would put him approaching 100 years old. Give us a break jason cocKran... when you (jason) wrote "It's starting to sound as if American Idol's vote tabulation takes place in a Louisiana parish"... we in Louisiana take offense to that. Fortunately, the citizens of Louisiana strive to be ethical and you will find that for the most part we are (at least as much as the rest of our nation). Your statement about Louisiana is just as much a prejudice statement as slamming Gays, Blacks or others that may not be like you or drugging up historical crap that has long since been corrected. Talk about labeling!!! Whar R UEW from BOY! Ya'll r fixing to geton mi badside, OOOPS sorry about that.. I let my backward Louisiana inbreed influence get away from me for a second... Louisiana is not still existing in the 1930 and 40s. You need to reach out for better examples than what you did.
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