History Main / FreePrizeAtTheBottom

* In FamilyGuy , JeremyIrons is adamant to point out there is no prize at the bottom of his cereal.

* ''Film/{{UHF}}'' has a scene where [[ManChild Stanley Spodowski]] notices — while on air — that the box of cereal he's hawking comes with a free toy. Saying, "Don't let your parents know you do this," he then disassembles the box to get at the toy, making a mess of the cereal.

*In ''Do They Ever Grow Up?'', a book of one-panel comics by [[ForBetterOrForWorse Lynn Johnston]], a boy has dumped three boxes of cereal on the floor, and tells his disapproving mother, "I couldn't 'member which one had the free helicopter>"

->So what's the free prize at the bottom here? A Stinger? Aww... I already got one of those :(

* During the opening of ''ANightmareOnElmStreet Part 2'', Jesse's little sister digs through a box of cereal for the free prize, a set of small, plastic finger blades. The cereal, incidentally, is called "Fu Man Chews".

* ''TazMania'' once had a bit where Taz went to insane lengths to get the prize from a box of cereal...which turned out to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome one of those baking-powder propelled submarines]].

* In ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (aka ''WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''), the golden tickets are placed inside candy bar wrappers. The book, at least, mentions several [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich people]] buying bulk orders and tearing through them for the tickets, discarding the chocolate. The 70's film version shows Veruca Salt's father doing this for her.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad Email]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail194.html "specially marked"]] is all about this.
[[/folder]]

* An episode of CowAndChicken is about Chicken finding a ''credit card'' in a cereal box. Also, in the episode where he gets insomnia after eating coffee-flavoured cereals, he finds a pair of underpants for prize.

* ''{{UHF}}'' has a scene where [[ManChild Stanley Spodowski]] notices — while on air — that the box of cereal he's hawking comes with a free toy. Saying, "Don't let your parents know you do this," he then disassembles the box to get at the toy, making a mess of the cereal.

* One of the spoof ads on ''TheGoodies'' was for Goodies Plastic Spacemen, which came in a cereal box with a free corn flake.
* In ''{{Scrubs}}'', JD has a flashback where he had a box of cereal that ended up having, not one, but ''two'' secret spy decoder ring prizes, he gives one to Turk and they both claim it's the best day of their lives (even above Turk proposing to Carla).

* In ''WhileYouWereSleeping'', young Mary Callahan doesn't want her older brother, Jack, to eat her favorite breakfast cereal. When he protests that it's very special cereal, she complains that "last time [he] took the toy surprise."

* A StoryArc in ''{{Peanuts}}'' concerned getting one free marble in a box of Snicker-Snacks cereal. In [[http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/?frames=n;read=227734&expand=1 one strip]] Charlie Brown told Shermy that the packing center made an error - there were 400 marbles and one Snicker-Snack.

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* Happens frequently with Jason in ''{{FoxTrot}}''.
* A StoryArc in ''{{Peanuts}}'' concerned getting one free marble in a box of Snicker-Snacks cereal. In [[http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/?frames=n;read=227734&expand=1 one strip]] Charlie Brown told Shermy that the packing center made an error - there were 400 marbles and one Snicker-Snack.
* In one SundayStrip, {{Garfield}} dived into a bag of cat food after Jon told him about the prizes at the bottom. Garfield surfaced with a whistle and Groucho Marx glasses.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The short-lived television series ''Series/TheWizard'' had an episode in which the title character had invented a little robotic beetle-like thing that was specifically designed to dig through boxes of cereal and retrieve the prize at the bottom.
* One of the spoof ads on ''TheGoodies'' was for Goodies Plastic Spacemen, which came in a cereal box with a free corn flake.
* In ''{{Scrubs}}'', JD has a flashback where he had a box of cereal that ended up having, not one, but ''two'' secret spy decoder ring prizes, he gives one to Turk and they both claim it's the best day of their lives (even above Turk proposing to Carla).
* One episode of ''{{Psych}}'' begins with young Shawn trying to get the prize from a box of cereal, and then his dad shows him that the most efficient way to accomplish this is to just open the box from the bottom.

* In ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (aka ''WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''), the golden tickets are placed inside candy bar wrappers. The book, at least, mentions several [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich people]] buying bulk orders and tearing through them for the tickets, discarding the chocolate.

In fiction, when characters notice the FreePrizeAtTheBottom label on their box of cereal (or other package), they will attempt to cash in immediately. This means employing a method of getting past the actual product, such as sticking one's entire arm in the box and digging around while pieces of food fall out. More innovative characters will come up with a less messy method. In some cases, they find that the prize is missing and may have already been taken.

Since this strategy is specifically used to sell to kids (or, more accurately, their parents), it is most often seen referenced in cartoons, comic strips, and other mediums that are thought of as being meant for children, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids although that's not always the case]].

CompetitionCouponMadness is a variant. While the latter trope deals with the collection of box tops or some other part of a product package and sending away for the prize via mail, FreePrizeAtTheBottom is for situations where the prize is immediately available in the package itself.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]

* Happens frequently with Jason in ''FoxTrot''.
* A StoryArc in ''{{Peanuts}}'' concerned getting one free marble in a box of Snicker-Snacks cereal. In [[http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/?frames=n;read=227734&expand=1 one strip]] Charlie Brown found that the packing center made an error - there were 400 marbles and one Snicker-Snack.

* In ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (a/k/a ''WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''), the golden tickets are placed inside candy bar wrappers. The book, at least, mentions several [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich people]] buying bulk orders and tearing through them for the tickets, discarding the chocolate.
* ''{{UHF}}'' has a scene where [[ManChild Stanley Spodowski]] notices -- while on air -- that the box of cereal he's hawking comes with a free toy. Saying "don't let your parents know you do this", he then disassembles the box to get at the toy, making a mess of the cereal.
* In ''WhileYouWereSleeping'', young Mary Callahan doesn't want her older brother Jack to eat her favorite breakfast cereal. When he protests that it's very special cereal, she complains that "last time you took the toy surprise."

* The music video "I'm on a Boat" involves Andy Samberg discovering a coupon for free boat trip for three in his cereal.

* The short-lived television series ''TheWizard'' had an episode in which the title character had invented a little robotic beetle-like thing that was specifically designed to dig through boxes of cereal and retrieve the prize at the bottom.

* An episode of ''RenAndStimpy'' showed Stimpy's preferred method for getting at a Muddy Mudskipper cereal bowl caddy: he just gets a very big bowl and pours all of the cereal into it. After he claims his prize, he stuffs the cereal back in to the box.

* The SpongebobSquarepants episode "Shanghaied" begins with Spongebob shaking his cereal box to find the toy inside. Just then, a giant anchor crashes into his house, leading to the line: "Squidward! The sky had a baby in my cereal box!"

* In ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (a/k/a ''WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''), the golden tickets are placed inside candy bar wrappers.

* The short-lived television series ''The Wizard'' had an episode in which the title character had invented a little robotic beetle-like thing that was specifically designed to dig through boxes of cereal and retrieve the prize at the bottom.