• by Amy Corr  @MediaPostOTL, March 17, 2016

You can only get so much swag at SXSW before reaching a tipping point. How many branded t-shirts, notebooks and cozies can one have? To relaunch its TAKE5 candy, Hershey's created the TAKE5 Swag Exchange where attendees could trade useless swag for sweet items like headphones, VIP concert tickets, iPhone portable projectors and reservations at impossible-to-reserve restaurants... plus a $250 gift card for the meal. From March 12-16, people traded in approximately a thousand items each day, from shirts, a SXSW yarmulke to VR goggles preloaded with porn. The priciest items returned didn't necessarily mean an expensive freebie in return. An algorithm took into account the most commonly traded items each day and set a premium for the rarest items. So one man returned a cardboard coaster and left with a Bose speaker. On a positive note, the exchanged swag is making its way to local Austin charities. For example, leather-bound notebooks are going to a foundation helping women start professional careers. Watch more about it here, created by Barkley.