ADVERTISING: Jackpot

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane, the biggest U.S. stockbroker, likes Wheaties. It took ads this spring in 90 U.S. newspapers ("We like Wheaties because") to explain why. In running a $50,000 contest, Wheaties' maker, General Mills Inc., had decided to pay the winners in stocks. Not to be outdone, General Mills took ads of its own, announcing that Merrill Lynch would advise the winners on what to buy, and General Mills will pick up the tab for the commission. Thus both firms hoped to spread the public's interest in ownership of U.S. industry.

Down in High Shoals, Ga. (pop. 217), a 26-year-old housewife named Mrs. Irvin H. McGuire had paid no attention whatever to all this foofaraw. She did not even see the General Mills ad until June 18, the closing day of the contest. Just for fun, she tore out the blank, dashed off the required completion to the sentence "I like Wheaties because . . ." She forgot all about it (including what she wrote) until a General Mills man knocked at the door. His very name, Golden Aurelius Pirkle, bespoke good fortune. Said he: "You have won one of the top prizes."

This week General Mills, still keeping Mrs. McGuire's slogan to itself, will announce that she has won the top prize: $25,000. General Mills' President Leslie N. Perrin and Merrill Lynch's Managing Partner Winthrop Smith are flying to High Shoals to give Mrs. McGuire her prize and free advice. Mrs. McGuire, mother of two small children and wife of an Army lieutenant stationed in Germany, had already picked out one investment. "I'm going to get some General Mills stock," said she. "I've got a real affection for that company."