Product: McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Digestives (266g)

Mechanic: Winning Moments

Closing date: 22 June 2025

Entry route: QR code or URL

The McVitie’s win £100 promotion . £100 every 100 minutes for 100 years of McVitie’s. Thematic, structured, and grounded in the brand’s centenary. The line pulls you in with a fast rhythm with clear value.

And on the surface, it looks well judged. £100 is the right kind of prize: useful, unpretentious, and believable.

This is what a legacy brand should do: celebrate without reinvention.

The pack is visually warm, celebratory and restrained. A touch of gold, a hint of sparkle – enough to say “special” but not enough to shout. No new flavour, no weird twist. It’s still the same biscuit just with a prize.

Scan the QR code and instead of a live promotion, you land on a McVitie’s landing page that says “We aren’t running any promotions right now. Come back in September 2025.”

Which would be fine if the pack had made it clear instead of in small print. Nobody reads the small print when they’re buying a pack. Even if they could read it!

What went wrong in the McVitie’s win £100 promotion

• The backup link isn’t clearly visible so anyone without a smartphone is excluded
• T&Cs are in unreadable tiny text as usual with on-pack promotions
• No free entry route for UK entrant

From a legal standpoint, this risks breaching UK CAP Code rules and consumer protection law:

• Key terms must be visible before purchase
• Brands must not mislead or frustrate reasonable expectations

From a brand standpoint, it undermines trust.

Brand traits

Very unusually there are none, though it hints at Regal and it’s definitely not Regal. However, we all know what McVitie’s stands for: sociability.

Why cash works here (unusually)

You don’t celebrate a century of everyday biscuits by giving away Teslas. You do it by giving people something simple and useful

£100 is everyday money. It makes sense and fits the celebratory tone. It reinforces the “we’ve always been here” narrative.

Clever idea and a great fit but when the link goes dead, so does the trust.

Rating: 3.7 out of 5
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★

This article is for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice. I am not a lawyer, and this content should not be relied on for legal compliance. If your promotion carries regulatory risk or spans multiple markets, consult a qualified legal professional.