McDonald's Monopoly heavily gamified and difficult to understand, marketing expert says

A lack of transparency and questionable prize value might be turning some people off McDonald's Monopoly promotion, one marketing expert says.

McDonald's has been running the Monopoly game for 10 years.

It offers customers tickets when they buy certain items, which can win instant prizes or be saved for "collect to win" prizes.

But some customers have complained that the prizes are not as generous as they first appear.

For example, a Mixbook $20 voucher can't be used with any other discount on the photobook site, which is currently offering a sale of up to 50 percent off.

Three months of membership to Amazon Prime, for which there are 400,000 prizes available, requires people not to already be a member and give their credit card details so the membership could renew.

WithU fitness app access, for which there are 500,000 prizes available, would mean that anyone who was an existing user and applied their McDonald's prize would lose any remaining time on the membership.

Massey University marketing expert Bodo Lang said it was an example of a business using sales promotion to encourage consumers to buy more products and engage with the brand.

To win big prizes, consumers collect a set of monopoly properties.

But in any set, there will be one property that is extremely rare, with only one or two of those tickets printed, meaning many people will feel they are on the cusp of winning but very few will get there.

Lang said the promotion was heavily gamified and difficult to understand.

"Most consumers are likely to be confused or turned off by it.

"Based on comments online, many consumers are critical of the promotion. This is because of a perceived lack of transparency and the questionable value of some of the prizes.

"For example, winning a $300 discount on a cruise that would cost thousands or possibly tens of thousands of dollars, was not perceived like much of a prize win. That really is just another sales promotion for another company. In that sense, at least part of McDonald's Monopoly sales promotion, is a multi-company sales promotion with the aim to get consumers to spend more money with the various brands."

He said it was also designed to draw people in to McDonald's through a number of channels.

"If consumers are on McDonald's website and wish to find out what prizes they can win, they are directed to download the McDonald's app to find out what the prices are.

"From research into marketing we know that once consumers have begun the journey down the purchase funnel, they are much more likely to stick with it and get caught up in a web of marketing tactics. This is what seems to be the case here. As a result, some consumers are reacting very negatively to McDonald's Monopoly sales promotion."

McDonald's spokesperson Simon Kenny said there was a range of prizes to be won, from a ute or jet ski through to instant foods prizes.

"If major prizes are not won during the promotion, they go into a second chance draw for any registered player. The individual prizes, what they are for, and how they can be claimed, is clearly explained in a number of places. The promotion is also managed by a third party, who liaises with prize partners, to provide added rigour.

"We understand that not every prize in the promotion suits every customer, as is the nature of large promotions. The main feedback we get from customers is how popular the promotion is, and that they look forward to it returning each year. Every year we look at what we can do better and factor this into planning for the following year."