Movies

Willy Wonka Never Had a Golden Ticket Lottery: Here's His Real Plan

Willy Wonka Never Had a Golden Ticket Lottery: Here's His Real Plan
Image credit: Warner Bros.

Have you ever wondered how Wonka ensured that only kids — the appropriate kids — would find his Golden Tickets? It’s simple: he never had that lottery in place.

Summary:

  • Willy Wonka would never pass his beloved Chocolate Factory to a randomly selected kid.
  • The Golden Ticket lottery was likely a hoax to attract attention and drive chocolate sales up.
  • Charlie was hand-picked by Mr. Wilkinson and further tested at Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

The tale of Willy Wonka and his enchanting Chocolate Factory has been popular for decades and still keeps going strong as shown by the new upcoming Wonka movie. Throughout the iterations of this story, one thing always remains: the Golden Tickets which give children all around the country equal chances of going to the Factory.

But do you really think that Willy Wonka was willing to take chances when it came to his treasured Factory? Why would he bet on only children finding the Tickets? Why would he put the future of his life’s work on a random little person to begin with?

Willy Wonka Never Launched the Golden Ticket Lottery

For Willy Wonka, his Chocolate Factory was the most important thing in the world. It was his life’s work, his pride and joy, and something he valued immensely. To believe that he would put everything he had at stake by having to select a successor out of five totally random winners of the lottery would be unwise, to say the least.

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Also, there are too many “coincidences” in the final results of the lottery to believe it even existed in the first place. All five winners of the Golden Tickets were children, which was impossible to ensure by random. All five had a purpose for Wonka.

But most importantly, every time a Golden Ticket was found, Mr. Wilkinson was nearby, watching the winner. There was no way for him to just happen to be there every single time, so the verdict is as follows: whatever Wonka was doing with the Golden Tickets, it was by no means a lottery and an equal-chance opportunity.

Why Did Willy Wonka Pretend to Have a Lottery?

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There were many reasons for Wonka to launch a rigged lottery with no Golden Tickets in free circulation. First of all, it was a massive sales driver: every kid wanted to find a Ticket to the Chocolate Factory, so they kept pestering their parents on any occasion to buy “just one more” bar that could (not) finally see them lucky.

Apart from that, it was a matter of PR. Willy Wonka didn’t have a PR department, and the Golden Ticket lottery passed as a charity event and a show of supporting the local population. Which business wouldn’t want to have such publicity for free?

And — once again, this is the most important part — the Golden Ticket frenzy drew all kinds of kids to candy stores, allowing Wonka’s employee, Mr. Wilkinson, to have a handful of candidates to judge and choose from. When the latter saw a potential “winner,” he would ensure they got the Ticket and try to bribe them as a vibe check.

How Did Willy Wonka Choose His Successor?

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If we accept the fact that all the winners were hand-picked, we have another issue to tackle. Apart from Charlie, the other four kids were obviously unfit to rule over Wonka’s Chocolate Empire. Why would Mr. Wilkinson invite them in the first place?

Admittedly, Charlie was pre-selected as the most decent kid Mr. Wilkinson managed to find, but Willy Wonka was still willing to test him more. The four other kids almost represented the “sins” Charlie was not supposed to succumb to, as well as the consequences of straying from the only true way — the Willy Wonka way.

Source: Reddit