The first dog vending machine has arrived in New Zealand.
A promo from Purina Beneful New Zealand has seen our four-legged buddies enjoying some instant gratification down at the dog-park.
The Play House vending machine equipped for dogs is activated by a series of pull-ropes of different lengths.
Pull one, and a ball goes shooting into the air for a game of fetch.
Pull another, and a Purina food parcel drops out.
All the instructions are written in English, which means either dogs can read or the promotion was actually directed at both the dog and its owner.
The dispenser for doggies was installed at Kainui Reserve in Wellington over the weekend, and will be in Christchurch at The Groynes this Saturday and Sunday morning, then will make an appearance in Auckland in February.
However, the snazzy Purina Beneful Play House isn’t the first vending machine for dogs, though it may be the first dog-operated one.
This vending machine for canines in Turkey is similar, but it wasn’t made to sell a product, and humans are needed to use it.
It kills two birds with one stone by dispensing food for stray dogs in exchange for plastic bottles inserted for recycling.
The most traditional vending machine item, the humble Coca Cola, has been a leader in vending machine related promotions.
In 2011 the brand offered a two-for-the-price-of-one promotion from one of their vending machines with a twist.
To press the two-for-one button you had to enlist a friend to boost you up to the button, designed to be just out of reach for one person solo.
Beer brand Amstel used the vending machine to show how their product gives you time out from your busy life, making thirsty customers stand still for three minutes in return for a beer.
In the Bye Bye Red Eye campaign for Douwe Egberts Coffee, the company installed a coffee vending machine at an airport.
The catch – no money needed, just yawn and your coffee would be delivered.
This vending machine apparently uses facial recognition software to detect when a person is yawning, and then dispenses the coffee.
My concern – how does it know what I want?
In more vending machine madness from Coca Cola, this machine simply dispenses ‘happiness’:
Japan is famous for having vending machines that dispense everything from underwear to fresh eggs.
Here’s an episode from Vice food channel Munchie showcasing what you can do with the ingredients from the vending machines of Tokyo.
Raw eggs, Bulgarian yoghurt, and fermented soybeans are all available to vend in the Japanese capital, and this guy makes an interesting if not dish out of them.
Plus here is an unboxing video of someone opening their Shopkins Vending Machine.
Because we’d all agree the sooner you get a child into convenient snacking the better.
And finally, for those whose patience is wearing thin with ‘zany’ vending machine stunts, this is the last one you have to watch – I promise it will make you feel better.
