Was 7up Free’s ‘Minister for the Craic’ a bit ruthless in getting to the top?

An Irish ‘minister’ involved in a corruption scandal? We won’t hear it! Although in this case, the accusation is leveled at a fictional 'minister' on behalf of 7up Free.

The soft drink brand recently launched a competition in search of a ‘Minister for the Craic’, who would be awarded the post in addition to a trip to Australia for the winner and seven friends. With such a tempting prize on offer, it's been claimed that eventual winner Stephen Carr may have ‘bought’ votes to win the prize.

In order to enter the competition, entrants had to upload a ‘manifesto’ video of their choice, with Stephen’s winning clip attracting 5,300 votes in the end. Some, however, have claimed that the number of votes for the new ‘minister’ did not come legitimately and have taken to the 7up's official Facebook page to protest.

Though Stephen didn’t break any rules of the terms and conditions regarding the competition, he has been accused of using a site he owns – earnsubscribers.com – to publicise and inflate his voter count. The site offers 1,000 of subscribers to visitors at a cost of $39.

“I never bought votes,” Stephen protested to the Metro Herald. “I never bought subscribers to purposely spam.

“I wouldn’t even call it spam when I sent out messages to my subscribers,” he added.

Evidently 7up feel the same way, with a spokesperson informing the newspaper: “We ensure the results are checked vigorously by our legal and technical department before a winner is announced and we are satisfied that the terms and conditions of our competition have not been broken.”