"Halt! Drop the Coke, and put your hands in the air!"
That's a shout that may become common this summer, in the midst of Coca-Cola's
The promotion is supposed to incorporate two surprises: The first is finding one of the winning cell-cans. The second has a new twist. Find a cell-can, and you do not get to collect your winnings right away. Rather, you have to call Coke HQ on the cell-can, accept the contest terms, then carry the gizmo around with you until, at an unexpected time and place, a special ops team from Coke homes in on the cell-can's GPS device, and swoops down on the (now-maybe-not-feeling-so-) lucky winner to award the prize. The prize could be anything from a new Chevy SUV (courtesy of General Motors
Pretty cool so far, huh? Well, the U.S. military is less than enthused about the idea. In a move reminiscent of the 1999 "Furby fiasco" (in which the National Security Agency flew into a tizzy over the trendy Hasbro
If I might borrow a phrase from the '90s: Well, duh!
In the end, all this brouhaha can do nothing but good for Coke. After all, there is no such thing as bad publicity, right? Maybe if this story gets more press play, Coke could even capitalize on it with a new advertising tag line: Live dangerously: Drink Coke.
Hasbro is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation. To learn more, subscribe today and get a six-month, money-back guarantee.
Fool contributor Rich Smith owns shares in Hasbro, but not in any other company mentioned in this article.