"No Purchase Necessary"?

Factual Questions
1

I was recently drinking a Snapple and noticed that there was yet another “Win Free Stuff” contest. The usual “no purchase necessary” label accompanied the main logo on the cap. This got me thinking: how can one obtain any of the putatively free stuff if one does not buy the bottle?

I understand that the reason for the disclaimer is some law against gambling, but that still doesn’t explain how you could enter the contest for free.

2

Such products include some way of entering without purchasing (such as sending a postcard to some address, calling a phone number for details, or visiting a web page). You don’t have to purchase the product, but I guess you do have to at least pick it up and read it.

3

If you go back and re-read the label, you should find either

  • instructions on how to submit an entry (usually a postcard you’ve filled out yourself)

or

  • instructions to mail a request to them for the colmplete rules (that will include instructions on how to submit an entry (usually a postcard you’ve filled out yourself)).

You don’t have to buy the product, you merely have to write down a name and address (while the assistant manager gives you a cold stare wondering what you are doing).

Beyond the instructions on the bottles, nearly all such campaigns are promoted by ads in newspapers and/or magazines. There, the contest rules are generally laid out in exhaustive (if tiny) detail.

4

The rules for such contests include a procedure for entering without purchase. Usually, they require sending a 3" x 5" card with your name and address to some PO box in some godforsaken place. They will, in return, send you an “entry” - a wrapper, a bottle-cap, a token, a piece of paper.

5

The rules should be on the outside of the label, and should include “alternate entry instructions”. You will need to send the company a letter (using the address in the rules) and they will send you a free “game piece” just as if you had bought the product. Or they might use your letter to enter you into a drawing. Either way, it costs you 37 cents to mail the request.

Might be apocryphal, but I heard of one product that said “No purchase necessary. Details inside package.” :dubious:

6

From Snapple’s website: Contest Official Rules

7

So that begs the question, what is a ‘yellow’ promotion cap and why would one want/not want it?