7-Eleven Adds New Elements to Its 7-Election Campaign

DALLAS -- 7-Eleven is adding several new elements to its 7-Election program, which allows customers to 'vote' by choosing red Romney cups or blue Obama cups when purchasing coffee, as CSNews Online previously reported. The event will run through the Nov. 6 Election Day.

The Dallas-based chain will celebrate its second annual CofFREE Day on Friday, Sept. 28, as a nod to National Coffee Day, which officially takes place on Sept. 29. From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., customers can select a free large cup of coffee in the red or blue electoral cups, or in a neutral non-partisan cup.

7-Eleven has also partnered with satirical news outlet The Onion to get out the vote. It is sponsoring The Onion's "War for the White House" coverage, which includes four exclusive news vignettes that can be seen on Onion News and the 7-Election website, the company stated.

Next, a special "Mobile Oval" political party bus featuring a mini-presidential Oval Office on wheels will travel the country from Sept. 28 through Election Day. It will make multiple campaign stops with the 7-Eleven grassroots team on hand to offer free coffee samples, hand out coupons and take photos of visitors in the Mobile Oval or with life-sized likenesses of their preferred candidate. On-the-road Tweets will appear using the Twitter hashtag #mobileoval, and a regularly updated map highlighting the bus route will be available on the 7-Election website.

Finally, 7-Eleven will offer a vanilla-flavored "Purple for the People" Slurpee drink at participating stores. The "peacemaker" beverage symbolically brings the country together by combining red and blue.

"Each day, almost 7 million Americans visit our neighborhood stores on their way to work, after school or while they're out and about. Around 1 million of those purchase a cup of 7-Eleven coffee," said 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto. "While we have never billed 7-Election as scientific or statistically valid, it is astounding just how accurate this simple count-the-cups poll has been – election after election. We have had a lot of fun with it, and I hope we have encouraged people how important it is to vote in the real election."