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 The Coca-Cola Company 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 of the opening once the can was opened. 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 a foul-smelling substance to discourage drinking.[1][3] Though initially a great success—that led to a rise in sales—technical difficulties led to the promotion's early termination.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Bernice Kanner, The Other Summer Games, New York, June 15, 1992, accessed April 16, 2013.
  2. ^ Marc Rice, Coke Ending "MagiCan" Promotion Because of Bad Publicity, Associated Press, May 31, 1990, accessed April 16, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Anthony Ramirez, Problems Pop Up in Coke Promotion, The New York Times, May 24, 1990, accessed April 16, 2013.