Walkers Crisps’ latest competition has got loads of you munching your way through bags of potato chips in the hope of winning one of 20,000 dream holidays to the likes of New York, Hong Kong or Sri Lanka. But for many, it’s leaving a bad taste in your mouth...
The ‘Spell and Go’ promotion goes like this: collect codes printed on the packets, register online with Walkers, enter your code and in exchange, you'll receive a letter. You need to collect letters to spell out one of the 26 destinations on offer. You can also swap letters with friends or with one that’s randomly generated by Walkers.
Walkers Crisps fan, Paul Baxendale from Liverpool, has been collecting the letters since the competition began in April. He says, "I began to smell a rat when a pattern emerged and there were certain letters I just couldn’t get hold of."
There are three letters in particular he’s finding very difficult to track down. They are C, K and D. But it’s not just Paul. Hundreds of other people are coming across the same problem. Frustrated participants have placed ‘wanted’ ads on eBay and Gumtree to buy these letters and a Facebook page has been set up to help people swap.
But they’re all after the same ones. Many people have turned to social media to voice their frustration...
Twitter
Take a look at some of the destinations on the list: New YorK, PhuKet, BangKoK, MajorCa, BarCelona, AmsterDam, BorDeaux…notice anything?
All 26 destinations on offer contain the elusive letters C, K and D. You need a K for long haul destinations and a C or D for short haul holidays. Paul tells Watchdog, "I’ve got 8 As, 7 Bs, 4 Es… I’ve got loads of other letters, but no C, D or K."
Paul Baxendale
Will anyone ever find the elusive letters?
Interestingly, the terms and conditions state 'there will be at least 20,000 Holiday Prizes available to be won… ’ The important word there is ‘available’. Whilst it’s completely possible that someone will find those letters, there are no guarantees.
Watchdog spoke to Professor Sir David Speigelhaulter, Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge. He tells Watchdog, "If all the holidays were claimed, it would cost Walkers nearly £40million. But they know not all the prizes will be redeemed."
What are the odds of winning?
Professor Speigelhaulter also tells us the odds are pretty low. Walkers manufactures 10 million packets of crisps a day. If you multiply that by the 100 days of the life of the competition, it equals one billion promotional packets out there, which won't all be entered into the competition. And if you divide that by the 3,000 long haul trips which need a K, the odds could be as low as one in 333,000 of getting a K.
He goes on to say, "Suppose, to be generous, one in 200,000 packets are Ks, then to have a reasonable chance of getting a K you’d need to buy 200,000 packets of crisps. That’s 7 tonnes of crisps. You’d need to be winched on to the plane! But there's no point in buying all those packets, as you can only enter five codes a day. So over the period of the competition, you can only enter 500 codes. That’s still £3 to £400-worth of crisps, and perhaps only one in 400 people who do this would win a long haul holiday."
Walkers fans left feeling flamin’ frustrated
People are growing increasingly frustrated with Walkers and have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA has told Watchdog that formal investigations into the matter have begun, but can make no further comment until the investigations are complete.
So, it really is crunch time for Walkers...
A Walkers spokesperson says:
"Walkers is giving the public the chance to win up to 20,000 holidays and 250,000 instant prizes as part of its Spell & Go promotion.
"We have released at least 20,000 codes on promotional packs that correspond to the letters C, D or K, meaning there are 20,000 opportunities to win. All codes have been distributed at random to make sure everyone has an equal chance to win.
"We are aware some customers are disappointed they haven’t been successful in winning a holiday yet, but people are winning, the competition is still open and there are more holidays to be won.
"Walkers reminds viewers that it is against the rules of the promotion to buy or sell letters. We will be investigating this and barring anyone we find who has been selling letters. We advise everyone participating to only use the official promotion channel."
This article was first published on Wednesday July 13th, 2016
