This year’s ‘Baby of the year’ charity fundraiser competition will be promoted by actress Jessica Alba.
The winner of the competition will get $25,000 as cash and the picture will feature on the Good Housekeeping magazine.
However, the competition is generating a lot of controversy with netizens contending that children are being trafficked through the contest.
The issue was first brought out by a Facebook user Sariah Gomes who took to the social media platform to create awareness about the contest.
The user shared two screenshots, one stating that the contest promoted by Jessica Alba is serving as a platform for trafficking.
The screenshot gave details of how Sariah had put her daughter’s picture for the contest.
However, after learning from her mother that it was a trafficking ploy, she removed her daughter’s pictures and replaced it with a black picture until the platform removed her account.
To her surprise, her daughter was still receiving votes despite the fact that her account picture was a black screen.
The 6abc News also carried a report stating that the ‘Baby of the year’ charity fundraiser competition is a scam. Many social media users have reported that the contest was charging questionable money to their credit cards after paying for votes.
As already stated, the contest is organized by Colossal and Good Housekeeping is not a sponsor and the winner will be featured in an advertisement in the magazine. Anyone can cast one free vote a day or pay to vote more. Every dollar donated by a user to Baby2Baby will entitle him or her one extra vote.
However, according to Charity Navigator Baby2Baby is a legitimate four-star nonprofit charity with a 96% score of accountability, finance, culture and community. Jessica Alba features as one of its board members.
However, it is important to read the fine print in the contest rules and questions can be raised on one such rule which states that parents are giving Colossal license to use the photos and entry information submitted.
The risk is always omnipresent whenever anyone posts photos or videos of your children online it could be misused by scammers and identity thieves taking and using their images for their purposes.
Therefore it is important that sensitive information such as their birth dates or what school they go to must never be posted.
Colossal’s CEO, Mary Hagen has issued a statement which reads,
“Our partnership with Baby2Baby is incredibly close to our hearts, as it allows us to support an organization that provides life-changing essentials to children in need. We’ve seen tremendous excitement about Baby of the Year, and we are committed to maintaining the highest standards throughout the entire process. The Rules and Terms and Conditions are publicly available, and we always encourage participants to familiarize themselves with them before entering and throughout the competition.”
