My Coke Rewards - The good, the bad, and the ugly

Ever see a grown man digging through trash cans at a bus stop collecting the lid from an empty can of cokes? Yes, that was me. I have discovered "My Coke Rewards." MCR is an advertisement campaign by, well, Coke that operates by a points system based on the size of the product purchased. A standard 20 oz coke product gives 3 points, a 12 pack gives 10 points, and a 24 pack gives 20 points (or 50 points if you're lucky). The sad thing is, Coke rewards have taken over my life. So, after being an addict for about a year now, how do I like it? Good thing for you, I'm about to tell you!


The Good...

Well, obviously the best thing about My Coke Rewards is, well, the rewards. The rewards update about once a week and can be viewed at their website, www.mycokerewards.com. Points come from any coke product, soda or not. After creating an account on their website, you can send in your codes through the website or via text messaging. The prizes range from key chains, to Nintendo Wii's, to Grills, to Vacations. Sounds pretty awesome, right? That's what I thought when I started....


The Bad...

Ok, so you want a key chain? 50 coke points, please! Wait... isn't 50 coke points the same as buying 15 cokes. Its a bad deal. No one is doubting that, and since you're a coke addict anyway, might as well get something back for it, right? So what about that Wii? Only 26,000 points. That's only... 8,660 cokes! Umm... Never mind.


"But I drink so much Coke, I could get that in no time!" Wrong. The prizes can only be won a limited amount of times. First come, first serve. Its not really saving points up for things, but more saving points up for whatever appears that looks cool first. Not only that, but even if you did drink enough cokes, you can only enter 10 coke codes a day. Hmmm... your chances are looking bad.


The Ugly

What it comes down to is that the awesome prizes are simply unattainable. No matter how much you want that Wii, you might as well just go out and buy it now instead of trying to drink a bazillion cokes a day. Plus, it will save you some visits to the hospital from caffeine shock.

Sadly, the worst part is what it does to people on an individual level.

Case study: Me

I currently have 15,550 points. The coolest thing I've ever bought with my coke rewards was entrance to Six Flags for 800 points (but it was only there for two weeks online). I now have my own personal army of reward collectors... My Dad, my girlfriend, and even my Academic Adviser's grandmother. That is not even a joke. I really have her Grandmother send me Coke reward codes. What am I saving my points for? I don't know. Will I ever stop? I doubt it.

~Final Thoughts~

Do you drink Coke? And I mean, a LOT of Coke? Then go for it. Get you're free T-shirt. Hey, you can even save up 18 points and buy another coke! Then enter those points toward a third coke!

Don't drink coke? Then avoid this like the plague. It will take over your life faster than a prom night dumpster baby.

Will I quit? No. And you can email me your Coke codes if you want. Leave em in the comments!

~jw

P.S. Wanna play but not want to buy coke? Google it and I bet you can get some free coke reward codes...


Links:
Mycokerewards
My Coke Rewards Wiki
Cheater's Codes for MyCokeRewards