In the world of Willy Wonka and his wonderful chocolate factory, five lucky finders of Golden Tickets hidden within Wonka chocolate bars were promised to be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. Now turn it into six winners; add in a Commando Squad Team with GPS tracking devices, make it £10,000 (roughly 16,200 USD) instead of rewards beyond our wildest dreams, and then you have Nestlé UK’s “We Will Find You” 2012 candy campaign.  

Nestlé, the candy corp. giant, has placed half a dozen GPS tracking devices within four different types of specially marked candies: 4-Finger Kit Kat, Chunky Kit Kat, Aero Peppermint, and Yorkie bars. The GPS devices will be activated instantly upon opening the candy packaging, and will trigger an immediate reaction as a slightly redundant “Squad Team” will be sent out to reach you within 24 hours and give you your prize. 

Besides the six grand prize winners, there are an additional 2,000 consolation prizes up for grabs. Buyers of non-winning wrappers can still enter promotional codes for a chance to win smaller prizes. The company also put up several thousand posters with NFC and QR codes so that players with smart phones can stay up to date with how many tickets are still lurking about, and as of Tuesday, Sept. 25, not a single GPS tracker has been activated thus far. 

Unfortunately, the webpage for the event says it’s available only to residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, as well as an 18+ participation requirement, which is where it differs from the Wonka story, where the tickets could be anywhere in the world and in the story everyone who won looks like they’re in 4th grade. 

But whether or not this marketing scheme is going to pay off for them, only time will tell.  If it becomes a successful trend, maybe someday even U.S. citizens could find themselves being tracked down by the people who make their snacks.

 

 

Reach Staff Reporter James Nguyen here.