# "No Purchase Necessary"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550 "2003-06-22T04:20:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/1 "2003-06-22T04:20:03Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/2 "2003-06-22T04:26:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/3 "2003-06-22T04:27:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/4 "2003-06-22T04:28:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/5 "2003-06-22T04:28:55Z")
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: ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/6 "2003-06-22T04:37:59Z")
From Snapple’s website: [Contest Official Rules](http://yardsale.snapple.com/rules.html) > [@](#): > > **Obtaining Promotion Caps:** To obtain Promotion Caps without a purchase, mail a self-addressed stamped envelope, bearing necessary postage, to Snapple Yard Sale Cap Requests, PO Box 2002, Grand Rapids, MN, 55745-2002. Residents of Canada and jurisdictions other than the United States (except Vermont), Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands may omit return postage. If the envelope does not contain the requisite postage, Snapple reserves the right to deny your request for Promotion Caps and return your self-addressed stamped envelope. Requests must be postmarked by November 1, 2003 and received by November 15, 2003. Limit of one request per person per week; two (2) caps per request. Promotion Caps sent will be randomly selected from among regular Promotion Caps and Yellow Promotion Caps. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-purchase-necessary/183550/7 "2003-06-22T13:30:10Z")
So that begs the question, what is a ‘yellow’ promotion cap and why would one want/not want it?