Confused About Contests

Right now on my kitchen counter there is an empty Doritos bag. I can see it from here. Why don't I throw it away, you ask? I don't because there is contest information on the back of it. In one of the increasingly common cross-promotions with movie releases, Doritos and Shrek 2 are giving away a trip to "Far, Far Away." Where exactly is Far Far Away, you ask? It's the destination of your choice, anywhere on the planet, provided the entire trip (for four) doesn't cost more than $15,000. How do you enter this contest? Via a website, of course (this is the digital millennium, you know), the URL of which is printed in the contest details on the Doritos bag. So instead of writing down the URL and tossing the bag, I decided it was easier to just keep the bag. Maybe later I'll get around to actually entering the contest.

A trip contest on a chip bag is hardly a novelty. Everywhere you look there are contests on products. From breakfast cereal to soda pop to peanut butter, companies are giving stuff away to winning entrants. Now while I'm all for getting free stuff, I do have to wonder how much does this really influence anyone to actually purchase products? If you drink Pepsi, you're probably not going to buy Coke on the off chance of winning a discman. If you normally get gasoline from Esso, you're not going to start going to Shell even if you have a chance of winning an SUV with every fill up. At least, I'm not.

Some people must, though, or companies wouldn't keep doing these contests and giving away bigger and better prizes. One of the best known such events in Canada is Tim Horton's Roll Up the Rim to Win. This year the prizes include plasma TVs, cash, trucks, and 7500 bicycles. That's right, they gave away 7500 bikes. That's in addition to all the free coffees, muffins, and donuts. I have coworkers who drink Tim Horton's coffee, but they really didn't buy any more coffee because of this promotion. They did manage to save enough winning cups to get us a dozen donuts, however. That and a huge stack of non-winning cups. Does this drive any business to Tim Horton's? I really can't say for certain, but I know that the Tim's drive-through near the bank always has people going through, day or night, promotion or no promotion. It's not like they were hurting for business before they came up with this.

The only time I can remember getting really into a contest was some years ago, when Pepsi was giving away Eagle Talon sports coupes. You had to collect cap liners (this way back when most pop came in glass bottles with non-twist-off caps), which had the letters to spell out Eagle Talon. There were lots and lots of Es and As, but apparently G was the rare letter. I managed to collect all the other letters without much difficulty. So did I start buying all the pop I could afford? No, I tied a piece of string to a magnet, and lowered it into the cap catcher on the Pepsi machine down in front of the grocery store. Never did find that G, although I did find a few caps that were good for a free bottle, and I caught the attention of a passing police officer who figured I must have been trying to steal pop from the machine.

So do contests work? Apparently they must, or companies would stop running them. Frankly, I think it's better to spend your advertising budget on trucks, trips and plasma TVs for the masses than on Britney Spears. Especially if I end up with one of the former. Heck, I'd take all three.

Oh, and about that Doritos/Shrek 2 contest? I still haven't gotten around to entering, but I will. And I'm not going to tell you the web address for the contest. You'll just have to get your own bag of Doritos.