Ever buy a product just to get the prize?

[torakris]

I don't normally buy pop but Pepsi (in Japan) currently has Le Creuset kitchen magnets on their 1.5 liter bottles. At 158 yen ($1.30) a bottle that is probably less than I would pay for the magnets in a shop. Of course I have now been drinking Pepsi all day long and am starting to feel ill...

Please tell me I am not the only one who does this...

[SuzySushi]

Doesn't everyone who has young kids do this? I distinctly recall buying brands of cereal we don't normally eat because my daughter wanted the toy inside!

For myself, I'm more apt to buy items that come in attractive reusable containers, such as an Italian pottery biscotti jar, or a plastic bento tray.

[Domestic Goddess]

Count me in as one of the guilty part. Usually youngest son would want the toy or in some rare times, I'd want the toy or prize (usually a winter blankie, oven mitt, resealable microwave containers, etc.)

[prasantrin]

I do it a lot! I got some Astro Boy stuff from Coca Cola, and of course I bought a lot of those little food things--different foods in each box. I guess those ones don't really count, though, since the little plastic foods are what you're buying.

I'm off to look for those le crueset magnets after school. And I don't even like pepsi!

[SuzySushi]

Oh, yeah, and a friend of mine in France has a whole set of swirled glass drinking glasses that were originally Nutella jars. I only managed to bring back two on our last trip there, and lost the snap-on plastic lid to one. In the USA, Nutella comes in floppy plastic jars with screw-on lids.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

When Burger King had their "Treehouse of Horror" toys, I'd stop into every one I came across and order a kids' meal. Just for the toy. Not the crisp, salty fries. The toy.

[rooftop1000]

Kris the real question is how many bottles of soda will you need to drink to bring us all a magnet in July?

tracey

[prasantrin]

Ok, Kris. Where the heck did you find Pepsi? I've gone to two different convenience stores, and have not found it, yet. I found Coke and Diet Coke ("No Calorie Coke" but it looks just like Diet Coke back home), but no Pepsi.

I need me some magnets!

[gfron1]

This is kind of cheating, but Kinder Eggs - which have "good" chocolate, but really you buy them for the cheap toys. We had a customer over Christmas season buy 300+ eggs, and when we asked what they did with all of the chocolate, they said, "we have it in a bag for later - we're on a diet."

[torakris]

Kris the real question is how many bottles of soda will you need to drink to bring us all a magnet in July?

tracey

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A LOT!

and the worst part is they don't have it on the regular Pepsi (actually I can't even find regular Pepsi anymore) its only on the Pepsi Twist and Pepsi Zero (which I haven't actually tried yet).

Prasantrin,

Keep looking, these magnets are wonderful! Look in drugstores, I bought mine at Create (huge chain store here). You will pay double at a convenience store anyway!

[prasantrin]

Prasantrin,

Keep looking, these magnets are wonderful! Look in drugstores, I bought mine at Create (huge chain store here). You will pay double at a convenience store anyway!

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Today I went to a discount drugstore (might have been Matsumoto Kiyoshi), Japan (discount store), Grand Marche, 7-11, Lawson's, Family Mart, and one of those little discount alcohol stores (like a mini-Grand Marche) and still no luck. I did find 1.5L bottles of Pepsi Jazz and Pepsi Lemon at Japan, but no plain Pepsi. I'll check back in a few days--maybe new stock is coming in!

[petite tête de chou]

Well, I *would* but boxes of dry cereal are sadly empty of toys these days. I'll still nibble a box of Cracker Jack (mostly the peanuts) just to check the toy out. And why chew a hard, pink brick of gum if it isn't to giggle at the Bazooka Joe comic? I have a bit of a, ahem, history of buying packages of bad, terrible gum just to get Charlie's Angels, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Dune cards. If I ever buy fast food it's those meal-deals with a prize (Halloween is the *best* toy time). Snag a fry, give the rest to the crows, sip the diet soda and play with my toy.

Edited April 13, 2007 by petite tête de chou (log)

[Rebecca263]

Many homeless people have been fed fast food meals by my daughter and me, over the years. AFTER we'd scored the accompanying toy! Also, I PRAY for Cap'n Crunch cereal to have a promotion so that I can justify buying some!

We buy MANY items for the promotions, and then give away (or sell) the items themselves, after revelling in the "free" stuff!

[CaliPoutine]

OMG, I want one of those !!!!!

Kris can you please, please, please bring me one when you come to Cleveland. I'll gladly reimburse you whatever it costs.

ETA: Sorry, I posted my reply the second I saw those magnets, I think Tracy beat me to it.

Edited April 13, 2007 by CaliPoutine (log)

[Cadbury]

This is kind of cheating, but Kinder Eggs - which have "good" chocolate, but really you buy them for the cheap toys.  We had a customer over Christmas season buy 300+ eggs, and when we asked what they did with all of the chocolate, they said, "we have it in a bag for later - we're on a diet."

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One Christmas I bought a Kinder egg for each guest as the novelty in the Christmas crackers I made. Putting the toys together was much more fun than the usual stupid jokes you get.

[worldcupfever]

I love Quisp, but I bought a ton more than I really needed just to get the necessary POPs to get the Quisp watch. And then the battery died.

sigh.

[Megan Blocker]

In my high school cafeteria, they set out boxes of cereal, rather than the big plastic dispensers we had in college. This meant that every new set of boxes set off a rush to grab the prizes...I am proud to say that I am the (slightly bruised) owner of a full set of Toy Story figurines culled from boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

[SuzySushi]

We buy MANY items for the promotions, and then give away (or sell) the items themselves, after revelling in the "free" stuff!

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Hey... there's also the buy the item, get the free stuff, hold onto it for a couple of years, and sell it as a collectible on eBay!

[Edited 'cause I got only 4 hours sleep last night and the typos are incredible.]

Edited April 13, 2007 by SuzySushi (log)

[HeatherM]

This is kind of cheating, but Kinder Eggs - which have "good" chocolate, but really you buy them for the cheap toys.  We had a customer over Christmas season buy 300+ eggs, and when we asked what they did with all of the chocolate, they said, "we have it in a bag for later - we're on a diet."

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One Christmas I bought a Kinder egg for each guest as the novelty in the Christmas crackers I made.  Putting the toys together was much more fun than the usual stupid jokes you get.

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I agree - Kinder Eggs. I used to get a dozen at Easter every year. I always threw out the chocolate, but loved the toys. I brought a bunch of them into work one year to share with some engineers who hadn't ever seen them before. They went over really well.

[I_call_the_duck]

Please tell me I am not the only one who does this...

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If they had that on a bottle of Pepsi, I'd buy it. I don't even like Pepsi...and magnets don't even stick to my fridge.

These days the challenges are to find free stuff without buying anything. In my college days though, I bought Spaghetti-Os to get a set of engraved flatware, orange juice to get a watch, and had my friend who worked in the dining hall to get whatever toy was in the cereal boxes.

[Eden]

while we were in Italy last month I came across really cheap little chocolate covered easter colombi in "La Gang del Bosco" packaging (AKA "over the hedge"). Each one had a figurine inside, so I bought two different ones hoping for an RJ or a Hammie, but both times just got Stella and it was a REALLY mediocre cake I might add. So I just left little skunk figurines behind me in each of our apartments

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

My kids pick cereal based on that, but the closest I've come it to buy something with the intent to reuse the packaging... a good example of this would be the Julies Love Letters cookies that I get at the pan-Asian market.

I have a bunch of the POM tea containers, but I like the tea more than I like the glasses.

[Kouign Aman]

Please tell me I am not the only one who does this...

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I dont drink soda at all, my husband doesnt like Pepsi. For those magnets, I would buy the soda and donate it. Those are muy spiffy.

[insomniac]

Reading this thread has transported me back to Hong Kong, 1998 and the infamous McDonalds Snoopy from 28 different Countries promotion (and riots); after unexpected success with Winnie the Pooh toys, Macky D's has HK'ers queueing through the night for the toys which were free with a Big Value Meal, it would have been funny if it hadn't have been so tragic....OK it WAS funny, people were throwing the meals away to get the Snoopies and by day 2 the homeless and poor, realising that for once they were on a winner in consumer ridden HK were circling McD's,.... pushers in were beaten up ..... the South African Embassy complained that there were no black Snoopies which McD's explained away as 'an oversight'...these riots not to be confused with the HK Maria's cake shop coupon riots......

Edited April 19, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Reading this thread has transported me back to Hong Kong, 1998 and the infamous McDonalds Snoopy from 28 different Countries promotion (and riots); after unexpected success with Winnie the Pooh toys, Macky D's has HK'ers queueing through the night for the toys which were free with a Big Value Meal, it would have been funny if it hadn't have been so tragic....OK it WAS funny, people were throwing the meals away to get the Snoopies and by day 2 the homeless and poor, realising that for once they were on a winner in consumer ridden HK were circling McD's,.... pushers in were beaten up ..... the South African Embassy complained that there were no black Snoopies which McD's explained away as 'an oversight'...these riots not to be confused with the HK Maria's cake shop coupon riots......

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O-M-G. How could I have forgotten ... Teenie Beanie Babies?