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{{trope}}
A standard marketing strategy for breakfast cereals and other products meant for children is to put some sort of "prize" at the bottom of the
In fiction, when characters notice the
Since this strategy is specifically used to sell to kids (or, more accurately, their parents), it is most often seen referenced in cartoons, comic strips and other media that are considered as being meant for children, [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|although that's not always the case]].
[[Competition Coupon Madness]] is a variant. While that trope deals with the collection of box tops or some other part of a product package and sending away for the prize via mail, this trope is for situations where the prize is immediately available in the package itself.
{{examples}}
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'': This first time Peter Parker proposed to Mary Jane (she wouldn't say yes ''this'' time) he did so by giving her a box of Cracker Jack, with the regular prize inside replaced by an engagement ring.
== Film ==
* In
* ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'' has a scene where [[Man Child|Stanley Spodowski]] notices — while on air — that the box of cereal he's hawking comes with a free toy. Saying, "Don't let your parents know you do this," he then disassembles the box to get at the toy, making a mess of the cereal.
* In ''[[While You Were Sleeping]]'', young Mary Callahan doesn't want her older brother, Jack, to eat her favorite breakfast cereal. When he protests that it's very special cereal, she complains that "last time [he] took the toy surprise."
* During the opening of ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]] Part 2'', Jesse's little sister digs through a box of cereal for the free prize, a set of small, plastic finger blades. The cereal, incidentally, is called "Fu Man Chews".
* At the climax of ''[[Spaceballs]]'', Yogurt tells Lone Starr that the Ring of the Schwartz - which was earlier implied to be a powerful magic item - is [[Magic Feather|a cheap piece of junk]] that he got from a box of Crackerjacks.
== Live-Action TV ==
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* One episode of ''[[Psych]]'' begins with young Shawn trying to get the prize from a box of cereal, and then his dad shows him that the most efficient way to accomplish this is to just open the box from the bottom.
== Literature ==
* In ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'', the golden tickets are placed inside candy bar wrappers. The book, at least, mentions several [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|rich people]] buying bulk orders and tearing through them for the tickets, discarding the chocolate.
== Music ==
* The music video "I'm on a Boat" involves Andy Samberg discovering a coupon for a free boat trip for three in his cereal.
* Referenced in "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" by [[Meat Loaf]]:
{{quote|
But there ain't no Coup de Ville
Hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box }}
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
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== Web Comics ==
* Layla in ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' won a [
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'':
** [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?book=15#2006-02-05 "Last time I buy cereal ''just'' because I have a coupon."]
** [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?book=15#2006-02-11 "We warn'd ye!"]
== Web Original ==
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== Western Animation ==
* An episode of ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' showed Stimpy's preferred method for getting at a Muddy Mudskipper cereal bowl caddy: He just gets a very big bowl and pours all of the cereal into it. After he claims his prize, he stuffs the cereal back into the box.
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' had an early episode in which Bart tries to find a police badge in the bottom of his cereal. It turns out Homer got to it first.
** Another episode features a box of Krusty-O's brand cereal that comes with a free jagged metal O at the bottom. Bart accidentally eats it.
* In the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode where they make working X-ray specs, they use them to look into cereal boxes to figure out which boxes contain the good prizes.
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* ''[[Taz-Mania]]'' once had a bit where Taz went to insane lengths to get the prize from a box of cereal...which turned out to be [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|one of those baking-powder propelled submarines]].
* An episode of ''[[Cow and Chicken]]'' is about Chicken finding a ''credit card'' in a cereal box. Also, in the episode where he gets insomnia after eating coffee-flavoured cereals, he finds a pair of underpants for prize.
* An episode of ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'' featured Norb and Dag competing over a variant: the boxtop prizes. Dag would reach in and grab the
* In an episode of ''[[The Fairly
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Children's Show Tropes]]
[[Category:Advertising Tropes]]
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