rbessler

The Cinemark / Coca-Cola / American Airlines Instant Win Promotion is back once again! For those of you unfamiliar with the promotion, Cinemark is giving out game pieces with qualifying soda purchases at its theaters. You can win 500 miles, 5000 miles, or the grand prize of 100,000 miles. As with most promotions, though, no purchase is necessary, and so with a little bit of effort, envelopes, and stamps, you should be able to net yourself in excess of 5000 AAdvantage miles.

The Promotion Details

• Runs 07/07/2006 through 08/31/2006
• Eligibility: Residents of 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada, who are 13 years of age or older. Employees of The Coca Cola Company, Cinemark, American Airlines, and The DataBase Group are not eligible.
• Available with either a 44oz soft drink purchase at Cinemark Theatres, or through mail in request (see below)
• Odds: 1:5 for 500 miles, 1:520 for 5,000 miles, 1:780,000 for 100,000 miles
• You are limited to 10 500-mile pieces, and 2-5000 mile pieces! For most people, this will effectively cap your winnings at a total of 5,000 miles, unless you're lucky enough to get a 5,000 piece.

Claiming the Prize

• To claim a Grand Prize, visit www.cinemark.com/promo/aabmiles and follow the on-screen instructions for entering the code that appears on your Game Piece.
• All miles must be redeemed online by 11:59 PM PST on 09/29/06

Mail-In Requests, Or "How to take AAdvantage of this without drinking lots and lots of Coa Cola"

• Send a self addressed stamped envelope in a business size (#10) envelope with first-class postage affixed to:
• Cinemark/Coca-Cola Promotion Game Piece, 3900 Dallas Parkway, Suite 500, Plano, TX 75093
• All requests must be sent by September 1, 2006
• All requests must be handwritten.
• Limit one request per outer envelope.
• You do not need to include an actual "request" with your envelope. Simply sticking a SASE into the bigger envelope will suffice. (Empirically confirmed!)
• You do not need to bother with writing out the return address in the upper left on either envelope, so save yourself the time, assuming you address it correctly in the first place! (Empirically confirmed!).
• Cinemark has changed the Official Rules -- NOTE: LIMIT ONE REQUEST PER DAY

The Controversy

• In years past, there was a once-a-day limit on requests. The original "Official Rules" for this year's promotion, however, did not include this limit.
• Under this year's rules, many of us sent in a bunch at the start of the promotion (in probability terms, 50 would have been the ideal number).
• Numerous FTers have reported getting back only a small fraction of the requests, with seemingly no pattern to the return (for some, it appeared they were coming back one-a-day, for others, this was not the case).
• In post #101, soitgoes listed the Corporate Contact information for Cinemark as: 3900 Dallas Pkwy. Ste. 500 Plano, TX 75093 Phone: 972-665-1000 Fax: 972-665-1004
• In post #124, Hopper39 spoke with Lesley in the Cinemark Concessions Group out of the Plano corporate offices, (972) 665-1275, who gave assurances that all mail in requests will be filled, but could not explain the slow trickle back.
• Cinemark confirmed over the phone that there was no limit to the number of requests, and even altered their FAQ page to reflect this. Customer relations assured several FTers that their requests would be fulfilled.
• Since then, Cinemark has altered the Official Rules to limit requests to once per day, leaving many to wonder whether or not they'd get all of their envelopes back.

More information available at:
http://www.cinemark.com/promo/aabmiles/

salut0

Interesting, but annoying that this has to be a purchase of soda rather than of water. Not being a native, I can't even imagine drinking 20oz of soda let alone 44. And I find soda too sweet anyway -- bring on the seltzer instead!

nako

For these folks, as well as those without a Cinemark nearby, don't forget the (required by law) "No Purchase Necessary" component of the giveaway:

Mike

ja_user

That is much cheaper than buying a soda, but of course. Most of us will remember the previous thread on this and collect as many "used" peices for the cost of entry for one into the movie.

DebBrown

I have been patiently waiting all summer and was about to give up hope. And now, darn it!, I'm leaving town on Friday.

I can't help wondering if it will be harder to find the scratch cards than the cups. They could sink to the bottom of the garbage cans much easier. Plus, people might even keep the winning cards!

Deb

IceTrojan

Did anyone get away with "mechanically reproduced requests" last time?

Interesting that there's no limit to the number of requests, other than "one per envelope."

rrgg

What do they have against Canadians?

nako

It's federal law in Canada to have a skill-testing component in all contests, to comply with lottery laws. Their laws consider all random drawings to be games of chance (or lotteries), which are only legal when conducted by a provincial government, or by a non-profit organization that has the government's permission.

The addition of the skill-testing question (usually about fourth-grade math) then turns it into a game of skill - you can't win if you don't get the answer correct. This makes the drawing legal.

Mike

mkt

hmm... Guess I'm going to the movies tonight.

Superman or Pirates II?

blase

So if I wanted, I could just mail in 10 envelopes to get 10 game pieces? I get free postage here at work.

cali99boy

i think thats how it works. Not sure if you have to mail in 10 different envelopes with 10 different self-addressed stamped envelopes Not sure why they make you mail in 10 different envelopes when they can just put all 10 gamecards into one

Oh, do you know if you have to write a note saying you want the game piece or do you just mail the envelopes in and they know what to do?

rbessler

All you need to do is mail a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address. So it basically costs you two stamps for each request. One request per envelope. You do not need a note.

[soapbox] The requirements are the way they are because Cinemark, AA, and Coca Cola are doing what they can to limit the ability to get free pieces within contest law. Yes, it seems like a waste of a lot of paper and stamps and time, but if you could put multiple requests in one envelope, it would make it even easier to get free pieces. Same reason they have to be hand written; same reason they have long titles (writing the whole "Cinemark/Coca-Cola Promotion Game PIece" line over and over again starts to get annoying). if you think about it, its somewhat silly that they even have to do this to begin with. Why can't they offer a contest only for their customers?

rrgg

It's easy to deceive customers with offers of gambling, which is really what the contest is. Therefore you have to offer a free gamepiece.

nako

Precisely. There are three fundamental elements that are used to determine whether something constitutes gambling - chance, prize, and consideration. Offering the free gamepiece removes the element of consideration, since you then do not have to pay anything for the chance to win the prize.

In other words, were Cinemark to offer a contest only for their own customers - without the free gamepiece offer - they'd be in violation of lottery laws in all 50 states and Canada, as well as in violation of federal postal codes that forbid the usage of US mail to conduct an interstate lottery.

Mike

ASULawFlyer

For those who participated last year, what are the chances of getting a cup with at least 500 miles? Is every cup a guaranteed winner or do you have to go through 10 cups to find one winner?

ETA: Answered my own question: Chance of winning at least 500 miles is 1:5.