Marketing contests with prize coupons inside products

A question on a food company putting prize coupons inside some of its products, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that such prizes are gifts and are permitted under three conditions. ¹

The questioner said a company selling food products wants to market them through a contest, placing coupons inside a number of products, so that a customer who finds one after buying wins an instant cash prize or a free quantity of the product, and asked whether this is allowed. ¹

The Department answered that prizes companies give buyers to encourage purchases are classed as gifts and are permitted under conditions. ¹ First, the buyer must want the product itself, not merely entry into the contest; second, the product's price must not be raised above the market price, since the increase would then be payment to enter the draw and so gambling, quoting decision no. 47 of Jordan's Iftaa Council to that effect. ¹ Third, the prizes must involve no cheating or deception of consumers, such as pushing spoiled goods or raising prices in return; it quoted resolution 127 (1/14) of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy that sponsors may benefit from promoting their goods through lawful contests, provided the prizes are not funded by the contestants and the promotion involves no deceit. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3833, dated 23 November 2023. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.