In India, some winners of the KitKat worldwide contest are a touch upset. In what is either confusion or simple bait-and-switch, big winners ended up with the 2012 version of Google’s flagship tablet rather than the 2013 variant winners in other parts of the world received. A response from the KitKat India Twitter account didn’t suffice, leading to a groundswell of furor, including a Facebook page dedicated to the blunder.


To begin, we can look to the contest for the genesis of confusion. It seems that both models were used in promotional materials without clarity as to which was on offer. Furthermore, winner elsewhere in the world received the 2013 Nexus 7 ahead of India, leading Indian contestant winners to believe they’d receive the newer version.

The KitKat Twitter account tried in vain to clarify the confusion, noting that the new Nexus tablet launched in India this November, while the contest ended in September. That’s all very true, but also a side note that has been made centric to the issue at hand. While the contest ended in September, the devices only shipped recently — well after the new Nexus 7 launched in India.

KitKat India

So far we have a contest that ended in September, an old device which shipped to winners well after the newer had been released, and two equally potent arguments. The real tipping point is that the older Nexus tablet could have been shipped at any time, if it were indeed the designated prize. The contest also used language like “all new Nexus 7 tablet”, which only perpetuates the problem. The right thing would be to swap devices for upset winners, effectively sweeping this under the rug and using it as a PR learning exercise. Right now, saving face should be what Google and KitKat are focussed on.

Indian winners have every right to be upset, and should demand this be rectified quickly. At the end of the day, it was KitKat and Google that made a mess of the contest, not adequately explaining the prize. Unless there was small print somewhere (which absolutely nobody can find) explaining that the 2012 version was what would arrive in the mail, those winners in India deserve the 2013 version.

8 COMMENTS

  1. The contest was started on 15th Sept and ended on 22nd November and Nexus 7 2013 was released in India on 26th November. Nestle started dispatching the prizes to contestants from 3rd Dec. The whole premise given by Kitkat is flawed and biased

  2. Contest Winners even got an SMS/Text saying prizes will be dispatched only after the contest ends. By which the new tablet was very well in India and the out-of-sale 2012 ones planned to dispatch to Indian winners.

  3. Great AndroidCommunity for Reporting this ! Nexus 7 (2013) showed up on Playstore India on 20 NOV. this contest ended on 22 NOV. Nowhere in promo ads were given the ARV amounts that pointed to the Nexus 7 (2012)…if they had given that..all this misunderstanding wud never arise now. Clearly it was a planned marketing strategy ! to take advantage of the identical names “Nexus 7” and play with images of new nexus 7 2013.

  4. I love the super serious opinion paragraph at the end. Way to stroke the winners’ sense of entitlement that their free stuff be exactly what they want it to be.

    • Well you will now be SURPRISED again to know that, due to mass campaigning by Kitkat winners, they are now getting the NEW NEXUS 7 (2013) as prize and also they MAY be allowed to keep the already dispatched old nexus 7 tablet also !! 🙂

  5. Nestle started distributing the prizes in the first week of December and by then the new nexus 7 had launched in India so I don’t see any reason why they should ship the older version. They are bastards with low morals. Bastards like these need to be shot in full public view. I am one of the winners and I am very furious and angry.

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