The Coca-Cola Co. has scrapped its "MagiCan" promotion because of complaints of prizes that failed to pop out of cans and leaks of foul-tasting chlorinated water.
The Atlanta-based soft drink company had planned to distribute 750,000 of the special cans throughout the summer, but spokesman Randy Donaldson confirmed Thursday the shipments had been halted after about 200,000 were shipped.The randomly distributed cans looked like regular cans of Coca-Cola Classic but contained a mechanism that ejected either cash or prize certificates. The bottom end of the can was filled with chlorinated water to make it feel like the real thing.
But some consumers reported that the prize mechanism jammed, keeping it from ejecting. And in some cases the chlorinated water leaked.
Though Coke received only about 70 complaints about defective cans, Donaldson said, "There is the impression we don't like among our consumers that there is a problem with the promotion.
The cancellation came one week after Coca-Cola ran full-page advertisements in newspapers across the nation acknowledging the problems.