Great point for discussion, myleguy. I'll freely admit that I'm usually happy to take advantage of loopholes. I don't think that's the case here, though.

For one, Healthy Choice included some language in their promotion materials that specifically encouraged people to go nuts with this promotion: Off their website: "The more you buy, the more miles your earn! The number of Frequent Flyer Certificates you can earn is virtually unlimited." and "Remember that you can buy any Healthy Choice product for this offer." and "Q: Is the offer limited? A: American Airlines--No Limit"

Second, Healthy Choice obviously knew about the pudding when they made the offer. This must have (or should have) been factored into the economics of their promotion.

As I sent in the huge box of UPCs, I did think there might be some bad results for the Healthy Choice promotion team. However, any tinge of guilt I had was quickly erased in knowing that the pudding was put to good use. It would have been much easier for me to just tear off the pudding tops and throw the pudding away, but this would have put a taint on the effort.

Finally, I should tell you that a VP with the ConAgra Promotion group called me after the Journal article ran. He congratulated me and said that they design their promotions to be loose and fun with the expectation that people might do crazy things.

Healthy Choice certainly got a huge return on the investment they spent for my miles because I had nothing but good things to say about their products during the media coverage. Of course the result would have been much much different if I had made negative comments about their products.