The Power of Suggestion

I think just about everybody with half a brain realizes that we have the ability to influence people around us. Many would call this "The Power of Suggestion". And for good reason, it is in fact suggesting an idea.

Imagine walking up to a soda machine, putting in your 75 cents or $1.25 depending on where you are, or what time period your visualization of a soda machine brought you to. You grab your soda, change is dispensed... but wait, what is that hanging out of the change slot. There is a shiny gum wrapper just waiting for you to grab it. So you grab it and you quickly notice there is writing on the gum wrapper. The wrapper reads "Congratulations! You have just found 1 of 3 magical gum wrappers. Please take this down to the Athletic Center immediately to claim your prize." (You are at a college.) What do you think you would do? Would you be the person that shakes your head skeptically and throws it out? Would you show your friends and laugh about it, only to put it in your pocket, then later actually take down to the athletic center. I've tried the whole gum wrapper thing, and I find it very entertaining to see what people end up doing.
A friend of mine and I have done homework many a time close to a soda machine with a magical gum wrapper (placed by us obvioulsy) sitting inside waiting for someone to claim a prize. It gets boring between college classes sometimes, and it's actually very interesting and funny to see what people do. Most people seem to pretend the wrapper isn't there. While others will pick it up, and put it in their pocket.
So what is the point... I guess there is really no amazing point to this story, except that people should have fun with the power of suggestion more often, one of these days I'm going to take a magical gum wrapper to the athletic center myself, and I look forward to the receptionist saying "You are like the 25th person asking about some prize with some stupid gum wrapper!" That would make it all worth while.
If I ever ran a college, I would make a contest where there were actual magical gum wrappers, just to reward those people that aren't so skeptical about everything. Keep that in mind if a DeDom University ever pops up.