I expect that is exactly what happened, seeing that there was an enormous uproar when the Holiday Kermy was released. Once again, a big case of "collector entitlement", where a huge group of collectors felt they deserved to get an industry giveaway. I wouldnt be surprised at all if they just beefed up the numbers on it... Oh well!
That's part of the reason I stopped collecting Industry Giveaways. Im not in the toy industry, so why do I deserve it? I lucked out and got Invisible Beaker (first 500 members of the Fan Club), Holiday Kermit and White Tux Rowlf. After Black Jacket Rizzo came out, I said screw it, and sold the others.