You’ve got to hand it to Simplot, the people behind the Chiko Roll.

Or rather, let them hand it to you. Which is to say, to hand you a hand.

As part of a new promotional campaign, devised by Melbourne’s Cummins&Partners creative agency, the company is planning to give away 1200 yellow, hand-shaped “Chiko Handy Holders” to fans of the savoury fast food classic.

According to a new advertisement, the device is “the one thing you already have that you didn’t know you were missing: another hand.”

The spot in question is an inspired piece of 1970s-style nostalgia, hosted by a presenter with all the trustworthiness of a use car salesman (Cummins&Partners’ Terry Mann) and characterised by its era-appropriate use of retro computer graphics, a flimsy set and overwhelming but-wait-there’s-more vibe. (The superimposed captions are amusing, too: “Actual product!” “Real promotion!” They don’t go quite as far as “This is not a joke!” but they get close.)

The advertisement also contains two staged testimonials. “A hand is something every man should own,” claims “Darren”. “I’ll never use my other hands again.”

“Getting home from the fish ‘n’ chip shop’s never been easier,” agrees “Tracey,” who’s leaning out of a Back to the Future-inspired DeLorean DMC-12 against an obviously fake background.

“Chiko Rolls were the original one-handed snack,” Cummins&Partners’ brand detective James Bennett said in an interview. “But people needed a reminder of the best occasion to enjoy them. We observed people’s behaviour on the way home from the fish ‘n’ chip shop and observed that 86.7 per cent of Aussies stole a chip from the bag before getting home. This was our opportunity for Chiko Roll. This one-handed snack would become the perfect meal before the meal.”

The promotion is part of a wider campaign that also includes a new Chiko Roll-themed jingle, ‘Roll Home with a Chiko,’ which begins with the line: “There’s a word in Aussie lingo / for a really tasty thingo / when you’re driving in the arvo / in your Falcon or Monaro.” The singer sounds a bit like Slim Dusty and there’s a tip of the hat to The Castle before it’s over. We’re sure you get the idea.

The Chiko Roll was invented by Frank McEncroe in the 1950s and was inspired by the Chinese spring roll. It was first sold in 1951 as the “Chicken Roll,” despite not actually containing chicken, and has been owned by Simplot since 1995. At the height of its popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, 40 million of the things were sold in Australia every year, hence the tone and style of the new campaign.

People who want to get their hands on a hand – the whole advertisement is full of this sort of thing, by the way – should buy two Chiko Rolls from their local fish ‘n’ chip shop and send the bags to the postal address on the campaign’s website. Remember promotions you entered by using the postal service? These guys thought of everything!