In the words of Willy Wonka, there are “little surprises around every corner but nothing dangerous.” On Nov. 30, tired students studying at Main Library found a little surprise of their own. Near the front entrance, just around the corner, stood a bustling table serving up hot chocolate, candy and prizes.
At 6 p.m., Spoon members and Orly Lewittes, a Warner Bros. Pictures intern and Northwestern senior, opened up their table, a hot chocolate stand with a slew of candy. Swaths of students left their studying behind and queued up to get their cocoa fix. So many students stopped by it took just 17 minutes for the stand to run out of hot chocolate.
Medill sophomore Mitra Nourbakhsh said the event served as a nice study break.
“The second it hit six I was like I'm getting my hot chocolate,” she said. “[It] really made my studying go by a little bit quicker.”
Spoon hosted the event in partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures.
Warner Bros. had asked interns to host events on their respective campuses to promote Wonka, a movie following Willy Wonka, the main character of Roald Dahl’s famous story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The film officially came out in theaters Dec 15.
Lewittes said she applied to the Warner Bros. internship to get involved in the PR and marketing side of film and TV, which she hopes to break into after college. The internship is a campus ambassador program to promote upcoming movies on college campuses. It exists at 20 schools across the country, now including Northwestern as well.
Although she has yet to see the movie, Lewittes said Wonka will be an “exciting throwback” full of “whimsical holiday cheer.”
“Our generation grew up with [the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory] movie as kind of a staple," Lewittes said. "I think it makes [Wonka] perfect for a nostalgic experience."
In addition to the treats, students could win a $30 movie voucher or a Wonka t-shirt if they took a picture of the table, posted it on their Instagram story and tagged @wonkamovie, @spoon_nu and #wonkamovie. They were also then entered into a raffle for a $25 Uber gift card.
Spoon Co-President Nixie Strazza, who helped run the event, was grateful the library allowed the event to be in the “heart of a high-traffic area.”
“Getting to see word about Wonka spread to students in real time was exactly what the event was about,” she said.
All photos courtesy of Emily Chow.