EVENING NIGHTCAP: Publisher's Clearing House Files Bankruptcy. Is The Bloom Off Sydney Sweeney?

 

 

Programming Note: It's full speed ahead for my work project.  For the next few weeks I will be posting infrequently. Thank you for your understanding.  

► If you're over the age of 45, you may remember the TV commercials featuring Ed McMahon peddling Publisher's Clearing House and their famous "Prize Patrol" sweepstakes. Ed and his PCH crew would show up at your house and award huge money prizes to suckers that entered the sweepstakes. Typically, you had to buy a truckload of magazine subscriptions and mail-in the form to enter. That's how my parents did it, which explains when growing up our house had all kinds of magazines. Mom liked Good Housekeeping, McCalls, Reader's Digest, and Redbook. Dad was into Popular Mechanics, TV Guide, and Car & Driver. Don't ask me how I remembered all that. Our house resembled the waiting room of a doctor's office, circa 1983. There was never a shortage of bathroom reading material. Or magazines to use to cut-out letters for ransom notes. 

Anyway, PCH filed for bankruptcy because 1) no one reads magazines anymore; 2) direct mail and postage is unaffordable; and 3) handing out multi-million dollar cash prizes is a shitty business model when your main source of income (magazines) is in the toilet. Last month as PCH was circling the drain, they were purchased by ARB International, a mobile and social gaming company. ARB is telling past PCH winners "so sad, too bad chump but we ain't paying your prize winnings". 

Past winners who counted on PCH money are finding themselves in a financial lurch. An Oregon couple who are both disabled vets are one of numerous past PCH winners whose mailboxes are not seeing their big ass checks. Since 2021, this couple had been receiving $5,000 / per week for life from PCH (that's about $260,000 year for life). They took European vacays and lived very comfortably. Now that the PCH party is over, they're pissed. The couple complained to the media.  The company's response was: Read More

"We understand the concerns surrounding unpaid prizes owed to past winners and are taking decisive steps to ensure that every future prize winner can participate with absolute confidence. While ARB is not responsible for prize obligations incurred before our acquisition (except for those detailed below), we recognize the impact this has had on past winners and the disappointment caused by the bankruptcy process,” a rep for ARB told Casino.org.

Photo: David Rosendahl / LinkedIn

Comment:  PCH prize winners who were receiving millions of dollars annually are feeling duped. The company reminds me of that so-called "well-off " friend everyone has who is always bumming off a few dollars (or cigarettes or borrowing stuff) and never pays you back or returns anything. In the off-chance you need their help they are always busy, or out of town, or sick. I can understand why prize winners are pissed. PCH was in serious trouble for a long time. Years ago the company was fined by the FTC for dubious business practices. That alone should have been a red flag for prize winners to save their money because eventually the gravy train was going to come to an end.

Edit: Ed McMahon was the spokesho for American Family Publishers, the competitor to PCH. Thank you Darkside for the correction.  

 

► Between her controversial American Eagle quasi pro eugenics jean ad and her recent box office flop, the bloom off the Sydney Sweeney rose seems be wilting faster than an 1980's glam rock hair on a humid day. Sydney (27) has become Hollywood's flavor of the month and MAGA's newest babe ever since it came out she's a Republican party and proudly displayed her assets on the American Eagle ad. Her career implosion is off to a good start. This past weekend her new movie, "Americana" tanked at the box office. It only managed to cough up $850,000 from 1,100 theaters. That comes to $772 per screen. Assuming a ticket price of $15, that's less than 50 people per theater. I've seen larger crowds at the opening of a Chick-Fil-A.  Read More

Comment:  The gif below sums it all up.

Sydney Sweeney at the premier of "Americana", August 2025. Photo: Getty Images/ InStyle.com