MagiCan

A spring-loaded tab dispensed real U.S. money or a gift certificate redeemable for trips or merchandise.

MagiCans were special, mechanical cans used by Coca-Cola in the United States of America as a part of their $100-million "Magic Summer '90" promotion.[1] The MagiCan promotion began on May 7, 1990 and ended on May 31.[2]

In this promotion, some Coca-Cola cans had cash prizes or gift certificates inside instead of Coca-Cola. The prizes were spring-loaded to pop out once the can was opened, lifting the prize into the opening. The prize would either be money, from $1 to $500, or coupons redeemable for trips or merchandise. The total giveaway of cash and prize coupons was $4 million. The original plan was to randomly distribute about 750,000 MagiCans among the 200 million cans of Coca-Cola Classic in circulation at any one time.[3] To make the cans feel and weigh normal, and prevent people from easily finding the prize cans, a sealed area within the cans was filled with a mixture of chlorinated water and foul-smelling ammonium sulfate to discourage drinking.[1][3] Though initially a great success, leading to a rise in sales, technical difficulties led to the promotion's early termination.[1]

History

Coca-Cola first announced the "Magic Summer '90" campaign in March 1990 by sending MagiCans containing money to journalists. Some journalists wrote that it was questionable for a big corporation to mail cash to reporters.[3] The campaign continued without the MagiCans, giving away tickets to the sponsored New Kids on The Block's Magic Summer Tour and distributing "MagiCups", which were paper cups with peel-off prizes on the exterior used for fountain drinks at fast-food chains and other fountain outlets.[4]

Technical issues and early termination

A number of cans had problems: the pop-up mechanism malfunctioned, jamming, or a faulty seal released some of the chlorinated water mixture into the can itself. A widely reported incident involved an 11-year-old boy in Massachusetts drinking the foul-tasting liquid used to replace actual cola.[3][5] Despite initial fears, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health determined that the water was not harmful, containing a lower concentration of chlorine than the water in a typical swimming pool. Worried about the bad publicity and potential product liability lawsuits, Coke immediately placed television and newspaper advertisements in 50 large United States markets. The full-page ads, run only once, warned consumers that a "very small number" of cans contain a foul-smelling but harmless water that should not be ingested. The ads were headlined "Take A Good Look" and in smaller type, read "You could have a MagiCan." The print ads pointed out that the MagiCans might be defective, which actually proved a key point in any potential plaintiff's lawsuit under the doctrine of strict liability. Moreover, the problem with the chlorinated mixture was not concern of being drunk by accident, but that it spilled over into the prize. Multiple winners complained about receiving soggy money after activating a MagiCan.[3]

"We are winding [the promotion] down early. There is the impression we don't like among our consumers that there is a problem with the promotion."
— Coca-Cola spokesperson Randy Donaldson[2]

When Coca-Cola began receiving complaints about the faulty cans, it temporarily halted distribution of the MagiCans to local bottlers. The plan was to test MagiCans before distribution by shaking them to detect faulty mechanisms. Coca-Cola's own initial estimate was that 120,000 MagiCans were on store shelves or in bottler inventories at the initial release, of which less than 1 percent, or fewer than 1,200 cans, were faulty.[3] Ultimately, Coke ended the campaign after only three weeks due to the negative publicity regarding faulty cans.[1] Negative publicity about the promotion included a political cartoon showing a man in sunglasses outdoors opening a soda can standing near a billboard hyping MagiCans, then he removes his sunglasses in surprise when a small sign from his can emerges saying "Buy Pepsi". The ads also drew fire from a 1990 issue of Zillions, the juvenile version of Consumer Reports, in their annual "ZAP Awards" segments detailing the worst ads of 1990. The main complaint of the ads actually was not the association with New Kids on the Block, but rather the deceptive nature of showing people opening cans and every time it turning out to be a MagiCan, in that "MagiCans & MagiCups" made it look so easy to win when it was not in actuality (the magazine shared that view with an ad of Burger King's "Whopper & Wheels" promotion, which received far less publicity).[6]

The decision to end the campaign came one week after the "Take A Good Look" advertisements were released. Coca-Cola then released ads telling consumers that only a few prize cans were left on the market and that they would be "going, going, gone by mid-June", the time when the company estimated the existing cans would be purchased and off the shelves. At the time of termination, 200,000 of the 750,000 planned promotional cans had been distributed.[2]

Meanwhile, rival Pepsi also did a prize giveaway in 1990 under the "Cool Cans" promotion. However, instead of a complicated push-up device in cans, each can was filled with normal, drinkable cola and at the bottom of the inside of the can there was a number printed that could correspond with a prize, from $25 to $20,000. The consumer called a toll-free number to find out if they had won.[3] Coca-Cola would attempt a similar promotion three years later with "Monsters of the Gridiron", a Halloween-themed promotion where people could call a toll-free number and enter a code, to which a recording from an NFL star would tell them whether or not they won a prize.

Coca-Cola's quick damage-control initiative was reminiscent of the fiasco over New Coke several years earlier.[7]

Urban legend

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bernice Kanner, The Other Summer Games, New York Magazine, June 15, 1992, accessed April 16, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Marc Rice, Coke Ending "MagiCan" Promotion Because of Bad Publicity, Associated Press, May 31, 1990, accessed April 16, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Anthony Ramirez, Problems Pop Up in Coke Promotion, The New York Times, May 24, 1990, accessed April 16, 2013.
  4. ↑ Coke Cans A Snakebitten Promotion, Newsweek, June 10, 1990, accessed April 16, 2013.
  5. ↑ Canned Response, snopes.com, July 30, 2006, accessed April 18, 2013.
  6. ↑ Zillions, September 1990, "ZAP Awards", pg. 22
  7. ↑ Marc Rice, Duds Prompt Coke to Shore Up MagiCan Promotion, Associated Press, May 24, 1990, accessed April 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ Canned Response, Snopes.com, July 30, 2006, accessed July 13, 2014.
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