In 2000, Post Cereal an American consumer cereal brand, along with Tiger, ran a furby design competition from 11/9/1999 until 7/7/2000. They advertised the competition on the back of cereal boxes (Cocoa Pebbles, Oreo 'Os, Fruity Pebbles, Honey-Comb, as well as others). These packages would come with a furby drawing, where you could color the furby in, and submit it. on the back, you were given the option to opt in for a free furby buddy (required 2x upc code from post product )
The competition was only open to residents of the US, ages 17 and younger, except employees of Kraft foods, Inc, Tiger, electronics, their parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, agencies, or persons living in the same household and families of each, and only one entry per household could be sent Their were a total of 2000 first prize winners, who received an unspecified “Electronic Furby Toy” and from those 2000 first prize winners 12 were randomly selected to appear on the furby website for voting from 8/1/2000 to 9/1/2000
After voting for the Grand Prize, the winner (Brittany) won a trip to the furby design studio. The trip consisted of 4 round-trip coach class tickets to Chicago, 4-days/3 nights in a hotel room; car rental for four days and $1000 spending money and of course a tour of Furby Design Studio with their furby design being produced (the rainbow furby) The design for the Rainbow Furby was one of the 12 entries that were randomly selected and displayed on Tiger Electronics website from august 1st to september 1st of 2000, where you could vote for one of the 12 entries. The Rainbow Furby is the only Furby that is known to have been produced, excluding the Contest commercial furby. The designer of the Rainbow Furby, Brittany, won the competition, receiving one Rainbow Furby out of box and another new in box. The new in box Furby would disappear, with rumors circulating of it allegedly being stolen by her brother and sold on eBay.
Advertisments
Along with the cereal and jello advertisements, there was also an advertisement played after various product commercials, which contained an example furby of what yours could look like .
and instead of purchasing a cereal box, you had the option to send in for a larger (8x11) coloring sheet. This sheet contains all of the contest information and is much bigger than the smaller pages found on packaging
Winner/controvery
The winner of the competition was Brittany Rosenbaugh. and her design of the "rainbow furby" here is her description of event from a 2019 facebook post.
"He’s (the rainbow furby) one of three in existence, made in 2000 when I was just 10 years old. I just so happened to be the lucky winner of a coloring “design your own Furby” contest hosted by Post cereals back in the day. I was flown to Rhode Island with my family and allowed to tour the Hasbro factory, meeting the artists, getting sneak peaks into prototype toys to come, and got to meet the CEO himself! He presented to me, in a formal greeting ceremony, with three of the Furbies Id designed as a little girl. One to play with (kept outside of the box), one to keep sealed, and one they put into their archives. I felt like a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Truly a dream come true for a kid"
"Sadly, when I was 16 years old, 13 years ago now, my boxed Furby was stolen from me and sold by my late older brother who had been battling an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking addiction. I’ve come to terms with it over the years, but have always wondered what happened to the rainbow siblings of this furry cutie. I’d seen images posted online of an Ebay listing with one of the sibling Furbies before but have not discovered much more about their fates. I thought I’d reach out here and give a bit of backdrop to this weird story in hopes I may learn something!"
ultimately, the furby was sold on ebay to "Hey furby" for an unkwown amount. allowing for the following photos.
In Conclusion
this is perhaps one of the most well documented furby contests overal and one of the most controversal,
bellow you will find a reputar of scans, photos and website snapshops
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