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What are your first thoughts when I say, “I’ve got a golden ticket”? Chocolate? Candy? A Wonka Bar perhaps? Maybe you think of a mysterious factory where people never go in, and people never come out.

Either Willy Wonka knew his PR, or his orange faced, green haired Umpa Lumpas did. Regardless of whose idea it was, it worked. Wonka ran a large, yet secretive candy factory that very few people, if any, knew much about. Wonka candies sold well, but the public knew very little about the inner workings of this dark and twisted factory. The public seemed to wonder what went on inside those tall smoke stacks.

Wonka noticed the public’s curiosity about his factory and wanted to inform the public that his factory was more than merely brick and mortar.

It is thought that Wonka’s PR campaign started years before the five golden tickets were hidden in the Wonka Bars. Wonka needed to create the curiosity and mystery for this to work. Nobody enjoys going inside a place that everyone already knows everything about.

For years the gates of the factory remained closed to the public. Waiting for just the right time, Wonka finally released his five golden tickets, and to his little surprise, the public began purchasing hundreds, even thousands, of Wonka Bars. Other factories bought up thousands of cases, and paid their employees to open candy bars for a chance to find out what exactly went on inside the factory. Even the poor gave their last bits of silver to purchase what candy they could.

As a result of this brilliant PR stunt, Wonka sold record numbers of chocolate bars, and with extremely fine print, still kept the inner workings of his factory quiet. He was also able to find a good-hearted young man to take over the business.