Hostess
Hostess was a Canadian potato chip brand. From September to New Years Eve of 1989, the Hostess company hosted a giveaway that consisted of various Nintendo products.
Giveaway rules[edit]
In order for customers to possibly win something, they would have to mail a hand-drawn facsimile of the Hostess Frido-Lay logo to the Hostess company. Participants could send as many entries as they wanted, as long as each entry was individually sent in separate envelopes. They would then be sent a scratch card with nine grey-colored scratch-off areas. Participants then had to scratch three panels and match the same icon for all three of them, correctly answer a math equation, and show their winning card at a participating retailer.[1]
| Symbol | Prize | Chance of winning | Number of items available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jewel | Nintendo Entertainment System Control Deck | 1:127,680 | 25,000 |
| Lightning bolt | Game cartridges | 1:12,768 | 250,000 |
| Star | Sweatshirt | 1:6,080 | 525,000 |
| Mushroom | Painter cap | 1:1,456 | 7,000,000 |
| Pepsi | Pepsi | 1:1,064 | 3,000,000 |
| Doritos | Doritos chips | 1:285 | 11,200,000 |
| Hostess | Hostess chips | 1:200 | 16,000,000 |
Commercial[edit]
A televised commercial promoting the giveaway featured Fire Mario and the three Hostess Munchies traversing through a level of Super Mario Bros. It begins with the Hostess Munchies standing on top of each other so Mario can scratch three mushroom icons on a scratch card. He then guides them to a Warp Pipe leading to an underground level, where they hit Brick Blocks and jump over various bags of Hostess-branded chips.
The commercial ends with the four reaching a Goal Pole, despite still being underground, and walking into an overworld castle with no indication that they entered another Warp Pipe.[2]
Gallery[edit]
Painter's hat
Painter's hat
References[edit]
- ^ Tweet by Jason Liebig at Collectingcandy (March 23, 2021). Retrieved on September 24, 2022.
- ^ Hostess giveaway commercial reuploaded to YouTube by mitch19872 (December 31, 2012). Retrieved September 24, 2022.
