Nintendo Ultra Scope Yukijirushi gold prize (雪印スノーラック ウルトラスコープ, 1971)

The electro-mechanical toys created by Nintendo in the late 1960s and early 1970s were innovative and advanced for their time. They must have been highly desirable for a large group of children. This is also suggested by the fact that they were used as top prizes in a number of product promotions.

How to persuade customers to eat/drink/use more of your product? Well, easy! Create a sweepstake that rewards sales of the product with a chance to win something nice. Even better: select a prize that the customers's children will like, so they will bug their parents to buy your product. Basic marketing, really.

This only works well, of course, if the prize gets your customers' children really excited. And apparently some of the Nintendo toys fitted that bill perfectly.

Advertisement for the Yukijirushi Stick Cheese campaign

It was already known that 100 copies of the Nintendo Ultra Machine were given away as a first prize in a product promotion for Yukijirushi Stick Cheese (雪印 スティックチーズ). The company Yukijirushi (which translates to 'Snow Brand') is still active today, but is now part of Megmilk Snow Brand Co.

I just learned that Yukijirushi also ran a campaign in the 1970s in which copies of the Nintendo Ultra Scope were given away as first ('gold') prizes, in a promotion for Yukijirushi Snowlac milk (雪印スノーラック).