Coca-Cola GPS? Wow, Just Wow...

[Captain Tenneal]

I don't know if anyone else saw the comercial or how old it is, but they're doing a contest where if you find the can with a built-in GPS and activate it, they'll send you a brand new car on the spot! Again I don't know how old this is or if Gary Whitta beat me to it but damn, that's freakin' cool...

[Qenan]

Not cool enough to get me to drink it -- it rots your teeth and gives you diabetes. Meh.

[ProblemChild]

rots your innards too. gave me an ulcer.

So, uhhh, if I find this can, I'm just supposed to stand there until they bring me my car? What if I'm moving, will they follow me? for how long? if I'm an evil bastard, can I make them follow me across the country on some sort of wierd prize-giving cross-country road trip? Also, what if a foreign tourist gets the can, puts it in their luggage, or takes it on the plane with them? That'd be kinda cool in the coca-cola central-command room. "Sir, the can has been activated...it's...it's...500 miles out over the atlantic ocean, doing about 700 knots..." :P

Neat idea, but some possibly nightmarish scenarios for awarding that puppy. I'd laugh my ass off if they found the can in a landfill. :)

[Timemaster Tim]

I would imagine that the can would identify itself as a winning can in some fashion. I would also expect that they've arranged with various car dealers to have cars available for throughout the country although if you popped your soda while hiking in the back country it might turn out to be an interesting scenario.

[Midnight Son]

Fuck Sodas.

[Jason Levine]

I would imagine that the can would identify itself as a winning can in some fashion. I would also expect that they've arranged with various car dealers to have cars available for throughout the country although if you popped your soda while hiking in the back country it might turn out to be an interesting scenario.

It would also be interesting if the can is opened on an airplane, especially an overseas flight.

[Bitterman]

A stunningly accurate and insightful post by our local master of rhetoric. Anyone here work for CNN, Time, or Newsweek? I see a rising star!

(This refers to Midnight Son's post above. What are the fucking odds? Karmic justice, I am sure)

[Midnight Son]

.... and Fuck Star Wars too.

[Aszurom]

They actually drop the car on you from orbit when you activate the GPS... so if you do find it, just take about 10 steps to the left and you'll be alright.

[ProblemChild]

They actually drop the car on you from orbit when you activate the GPS... so if you do find it, just take about 10 steps to the left and you'll be alright.

Sweet! MORE interesting scenarios! The plane scenario takes on a whole new life with this revelation ;)

Then there's also the "lets bury the hatchet and be friends" scenario!

Me: "You know, I know we've had our differences in the past and we've had a real hate-on for each other, but I want things to be different, I know we can be friends. I want you to have this can of coke..."

Enemy: "Thanks dude!...Ha! I won a car! sucka!"

Me: "I'm just gonna go stand over there..."

[Aszurom]

There's great potential for "Orbital Pinto Strike" to be in Planet Moon's next game.

[Timemaster Tim]

What if the pilot of SpaceShipOne popped it in suborbital flight?

[Bill Dungsroman]

I wonder if they'll do it like they do in the Vegas casinos when you win a car or boat on one of the carousel slots. See, they don't want you to actually win the car. They press you pretty heavily on taking an amount for what the car's worth. So that Sea-Doo you're rocking the nickel slots for is actually a bait-and-switch for a 10 or 20 thousand dollar jackpot. I worked through college as a bellman at a local hotel, and I saw the whole thing play out in front of me one morning. They had just put up a carousel for a Cadillac El Dorado, not even two months prior, and some guy hit it. Aside from the hemorrhaging the shift boss did over the thing hitting so quick (I doubt the machines had even broke even on earnings by then, it was in the summer and it was slow), the guy wanted that fucker. He was gonna drive his new prize home to LA and have a great story to tell everyone. The shift boss and the slots supervisor were wringing their hands with this guy, offering him the buy-off, mentioning how the hotel doesn't and can't pay the tax on the thing, so he basically won a registration fee to the tune of a few thou. Oops! The guy's pretty well off (as opposed to most casino guests) and doesn't care about that shit. He just won a new car, he just bought a brand new Caddy for a couple thousand dollars, and best of all, he just stuck it to a Las Vegas Strip casino. So, they had to dismantle one end of the carousel, assemble a ramp and creep the thing through and out the side fucking doors. They had to call one of the owners in, and he looked like he was going to summarily execute the shift boss and the slots supervisor on the spot. Not only do they hate it in Vegas casinos when someone wins, and wins big, but they despise it when it's some guy who won't take the pay-off, it's some guy who doesn't care, and it's some guy who isn't even a player (because how will they recoup their losses over time with a guy who doesn't bet big, and probably won't be back to lose it?). Worst case scenario in a Vegas casino.

So, I bet they contact you, or you contact them, and then it all works out far less dramatically than the ads imply.

[Squirrel Killer]

Beyond the hassle of getting the car to the winner, what difference is it to the company that they give away a $50k car verses $50k cash?

[Jason Levine]

Beyond the hassle of getting the car to the winner, what difference is it to the company that they give away a $50k car verses $50k cash?

Because they didn't pay $50K for the $50K car. Don't forget that the give-away has promotional value for car manufacturer too.

[Squirrel Killer]

Beyond the hassle of getting the car to the winner, what difference is it to the company that they give away a $50k car verses $50k cash?

Because they didn't pay $50K for the $50K car. Don't forget that the give-away has promotional value for car manufacturer too.

In that case, wouldn't they want the guy to take the car instead of the cash?

[Jason Levine]

Beyond the hassle of getting the car to the winner, what difference is it to the company that they give away a $50k car verses $50k cash?

Because they didn't pay $50K for the $50K car. Don't forget that the give-away has promotional value for car manufacturer too.

In that case, wouldn't they want the guy to take the car instead of the cash?

Yeah, guess I misread this. I didn't realize they were giving the guy a choice. Are they offering the retail value of the car in cash?

[Timemaster Tim]

In the casino example, I would imagine that the casino prefers to give cash over hard goods since plying somebody with $50,000 gives them a shot at getting it back if the guy continues to gamble.

[Bill Dungsroman]

In the casino example, I would imagine that the casino prefers to give cash over hard goods since plying somebody with $50,000 gives them a shot at getting it back if the guy continues to gamble.

Absolutely. Casino-awarded non-cash prizes drive old-school casino management crazy. You're giving away big money in a non-returnable form, the cardinal sin of Vegas. Casino management is hilariously short-sighted and short of memory for all but the big players. Guy wins a car and keeps it, the money's gone. Guy wins a cash jackpot; well, here's a few extra night's stay, a comp for a show and dinner, JUST STAY HERE AND GAMBLE MOTHERUCKER.

Most people who play those carousels aren't big shots, just guys like you and me on holiday. Here's how it goes:

HOLY SHIT I WON THE FUCKING BEAMER! Out of nowhere appears four security guards and the entire area's slot personnel. The slot supervisor is paged immediately, and he shows up. The shift boss is paged, and he shows up with a lackey or two. Suddenly, you're sitting there surrounded by casino heavies and dozens of looky-Lous in your Birkenstocks and I WAS A JACK OFF IN LAS VEGAS T-Shirt. Just to put you on edge, they tell you they need to review your play on security tape, just to be safe ("It's required by law, sorry, sir."). So, you wait around up there, or in The Back (and all the horror stories you've heard or seen in films about The Back nearly kill your winner's buzz). You finally really realize that a camera was on you all the time, and some guard is watching you pick your nose and eat it and gawk at the cocktail waitress' cleavage right before you got the winning pull. Great. There's a lot of tension in the air; taking big from a casino gets a lot of people in hot water. The slot manager isn't going to hold a fucking parade for you, pal - he's probably going to get his ass chewed by the shift boss. You feel that tension and wonder if a couple guards aren't going to hold you down and clock you one. Immediately they come at you about prize options: money now or car (+registration and tax) later. See, I forgot to mention the Caddy winner guy showed big nuts to have them take the car right off the carousel right then. He had every legal right to (and the casino knew it), but the move is to tell you that that car up there isn't the actual car (even though it is, but a little disclaimer on the carousel somewhere might say otherwise), so they have to get it, blah blah blah. Christ, are you sure you want to wait? Are you sure you want to pay the couple grand to register it? How about the tax? The tax on the awarded prize is still enforced, even if it's not cash, which can easily be deducted from the total, if it's money. Look, take the cash, we can help figure up the tax for you, and here's an upgrade to a suite for the rest of your stay - hell, we'll add a day or two even, and here's dinner for you and some show tix. Won't the little lady enjoy all that? Here's a spa pass for her, too. So, what do you want, a car you're going to have to shell out 4-5 grand to take home and keep, or about 30-40 grand take home, plus all these fabulous prizes? If some guy walked up to you and said "I'll give you 30 grand plus a wild couple days in Vegas or make you pay four grand for a nice car," which one would you choose? What are you gonna say? Then, you gamble - what the fuck, we're here, and we just won 30 fucking grand! Ten grand or so later, you still leave way ahead, happy as a clam, and the casino recoups some of its loss. Net loss to casino: ten or 20 grand minus some services, instead of a 40-grand car with no means to get it back from you (never mind the next guy). You bet they want to give you the cash, and you bet almost everyone takes it. After all that, they're relieved to get handed some cash and get away clean.

[Anaxagoras]

That is so incredibly stupid. Who's to say that those people will even gamble at that casino? They could just as easily take their money to the fancy casino up the road.

Yet another reason to not ever go gambling. It's run by extremely greedy and stupid people.

[balut]

But James Caan is super-cool, and Vanessa Marcil, Nikki Cox, Marsha Thomason, and Molly Sims are super-pretty.

[balut]

Arise, topic!

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/07/02/coke.militaryalert.ap/index.html

Interesting.

[Malderi]

... or they just pre-determine the can and where it will be distributed, and then have one dealer standing by...