History Main / CompetitionCouponMadness

* ''WesternAnimation/SevenLittleMonsters'': In "Losing Sam", Seven mentions that he sent a lot of box tops for his bronze statue of Johannes Stauss the Elder.

* In the first two seasons of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash wears the hat he won from a competition of this type. This is explained in the episode "Primeape Goes Bananas", in which the aforementioned monkey-type Pokémon steals Ash's cap and [[BerserkButton he spends the whole episode fighting to get it back]].

* In the ''Aussie Bites'' book, ''Nathan and the Ice Rockets'', the titular protagonist sets out to win a limited edition bike from the competition by eating a series of the titular ice lollies and collecting the required popsicle sticks to do so, while the school bully proceeds to show off his own bike to the rest of the school. [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding While Nathan never gets the required coupons to win the bike, he wins over a group of new friends]] [[LaserGuidedKarma while the school bully ends up getting his bike destroyed by mistake by leaving it out on the driveway]].]]

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-->--'''Music/TomLehrer''', "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier", ''Music/AnEveningWastedWithTomLehrer''

* In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', Colias Palaeno, the Ambassador of Babahl, keeps handing out coupons in order to drum up tourism -- [[ButThouMust they can only be redeemed in Babahl]].

* In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "Specially Marked", Strong Bad really doesn't like cereals that make you cut off and mail in tons of box tops just to get a crappy prize. The only thing he hates more are cereals that don't even bother with a FreePrizeAtTheBottom.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'' has Bert attempting to win a bike by putting together a jigsaw puzzle from pieces that come in a brand of crisps/potato chips with [[IAteWHAT combinations that many would consider disgusting]] (not knowing that [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Cyril Sneer]] deliberately left out one piece of the puzzle in an attempt to rig the competition so no one can win, and [[OnlyInItForTheMoney make more money]]). HilarityEnsues, doubly so when the Piglets accidentally drop the single copy of the necessary piece in a crisp shipment and it results in a BigBallOfViolence. The episode has an EarnYourHappyEnding after Bert has a HeelRealization of how he treated his friends for prizes in a crisp packet; the moral is "Don't sell out your friends for a prize in snack foods", which isn't a bad [[AnAesop aesop to include]] and [[ValuesResonance relevant even now]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Waiting" had [=SpongeBob=] devouring 100 boxes of Kelpo cereal practically all at one sitting, all in order to get the box tops needed to send in for a free toy. He then realizes he didn't necessarily have to eat ''all'' the cereal in the aforementioned boxes.

* Played for drama in ''Film/PunchDrunkLove'', in which Barry Egan's obsession with getting enough promotional coupons to trade for frequent flyer miles just comes across to those close to him as more evidence that he is an unstable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. It becomes more heartwarming when he proposes to his LoveInterest and adds that he'll be able to get enough airline miles to accompany her anywhere in the world on her frequent overseas business trips. Barry’s {{CompetitionCouponMadness}} is justified as he realizes that an oversight by the company running the promotion means that, of the various products included in the promotion, the purchase price of a six pack of pudding cups is far less than the value of the frequent flyer miles that can be redeemed. Also he owns and runs his own business in a warehouse facility, so logistically it is very easy for him buy and store hundreds of boxes of pudding cups.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'' has Bert attempting to win a bike by putting together a jigsaw puzzle from pieces that come in a brand of crisps (not knowing that [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Cyril Sneer]] deliberately left out one piece of the puzzle so no one can win). HilarityEnsues, doubly so when the Piglets accidentally drop the single copy of the necessary piece in a crisp shipment.

* In the first two seasons of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash wears the hat he won from a competition of this type. This is explained in the episode "Primeape Goes Bananas", in which the aforementioned monkey-type Pokemon steals Ash's cap and [[BerserkButton he spends the whole episode fighting to get it back]].

* Played for drama in ''Film/PunchDrunkLove'', in which Barry Egan's obsession with getting enough promotional coupons to trade for frequent flyer miles just comes across to those close to him as more evidence that he is an unstable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. It becomes more heartwarming when he proposes to his LoveInterest and adds that he'll be able to get enough airline miles to accompany her anywhere in the world on her frequent overseas business trips. Barry’s {{CompetitionCouponMadness}} is justified as he realises that an oversight by the company running the promotion means that, of the various products included in the promotion, the purchase price of a six pack of pudding cups is far less than the value of the frequent flyer miles that can be redeemed. Also he owns and runs his own business in a warehouse facility, so logistically it is very easy for him buy and store hundreds of boxes of pudding cups.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' revolved around this where Norbert would send away cereal box tops for various (and ludicrously elaborate) toys where as Dagget would instead just settle on the cheap FreePrizeAtTheBottom. Dagget however gets into trying to save up cereal box tops for a street sweeper that he really wants, but it takes him so long to get through all of the cereal, the offer ends before he can save enough.

%%* In the first two seasons of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash wears the hat he won from a competition like this.

Compare and contrast FreePrizeAtTheBottom. The most literal type of PlotCoupon. One of the prizes could be [[SeaAping sea-monkeys]].

Compare and contrast FreePrizeAtTheBottom. The most literal type of PlotCoupon.

* Played for drama in ''Film/PunchDrunkLove'', in which Barry Egan's obsession with getting enough pudding coupons to trade for a plane ticket just comes across to those close to him as more evidence that he is an unstable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. It becomes more heartwarming when he proposes to his LoveInterest and adds that he thinks he'll be able to get enough coupons for two tickets before the contest ends.

[[folder:Anime and Manga ]]
* In the first two seasons of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash wears the hat he won from a competition like this.

[[folder:Comic Books ]]
* Seen several times in WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck comics, including one Creator/DonRosa story.

[[folder:Film]]

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/BetterOffDead'', where Lane's younger brother cuts the coupons out of every box in the house, ''before'' using up the contents, leading to a RunningGag of characters pulling boxes out of the kitchen cupboards only for everything to spill out. Among the prizes he wins are a fully functional RayGun, [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior a book on how to pick up "trashy women",]] and [[spoiler: a construction kit for an actual working space shuttle, which he uses to fly off into space at the end of the movie.]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* An episode of BritCom ''TheWorker'', starring Charlie Drake, has his character buying hundreds of boxes of cereal so he can find a Golden Ticket to a prize contest. He then spends weeks training for the contest until he's fully confident of winning [[spoiler:but shows up on the wrong day]].
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', the main characters buy a ridiculous amount of ice cream, in order to win a free Ke$ha concert.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Calvin from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' once sent in coupons for a propeller beanie. In his case, the biggest problem was that he had no patience waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Also, he is disappointed to find once it arrives that he can't use it to fly.
* In the ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS'' comic book story "Dennis vs. Television", which was also translated into Spanish, Dennis collected cereal box tops without actually buying the cereal, hoping to win a big prize.
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* In 1999, California engineer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Phillips_(entrepreneur) David Phillips]] did the math and found that a particular promotion, in which a food company offered airline frequent flyer miles in exchange for inexpensive food purchases, was a phenomenally good value. For about $3000, he was able to buy enough pudding to redeem for over a million airline miles -- enough to fly just about anywhere, first class, dozens of times over. And he donated the food to charity, ''and'' he got an $800 tax break for the donation. This story was used for the movie ''Film/PunchDrunkLove''.

** Here's the [[http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/pepsijet.asp article]] about it on ''{{WebSite/Snopes}}''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Arnold and Gerald need to collect 50 cereal box coupons to earn a children's telescope so they can see an upcoming passing comet. Since they collected half of the coupons, they invite their friends and neighbors for the remaining cereal.

* ''VideoGame/PajamaSam 3'' begins with Sam eating a bunch of cookies so he can send the box tops to get a Pajama Man toy. There are multiple box tops throughout the game that add pictures of Sam playing with a Pajama Man toy during the ending if all of them are collected

* Played for drama (to some degree) in ''Film/PunchDrunkLove'', in which Barry Egan's obsession with getting enough pudding coupons to trade for a plane ticket just comes across to those close to him as more evidence that he is an unstable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. It becomes more heartwarming when he proposes to his LoveInterest and adds that he thinks he'll be able to get enough coupons for two tickets before the contest ends.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'' has Bert attempting to win a bike by putting together a jigsaw puzzle from pieces that come in a brand of crisps (not knowing that [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Cyril Sneer]] deliberately left out one piece of the puzzle so no one can win). HilarityEnsues.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/BetterOffDead'', where Lane's younger brother cuts the coupons out of every box in the house, ''before'' using up the contents, leading to a RunningGag of characters pulling boxes out of the kitchen cupboards only for everything to spill out. Among the prizes he wins are an actual, working RayGun, [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior and a book on how to pick up "trashy women".]]

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/BetterOffDead'', where Lane's younger brother cuts the coupons out of every box in the house, ''before'' using up the contents, leading to a RunningGag of characters pulling boxes out of the kitchen cupboards only for everything to spill out. And the prizes he wins? An actual, working RayGun, [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior and a book on how to pick up "trashy women".]]