Leonard v. Pepsico is a seminal contract case now taught in US law schools.
The campaign was simple. Buy Pepsi products, collect points from Pepsi labels and claim prizes like t-shirts, sunglasses, or - for 7 million points - a Harrier Jet.
John Leonard noticed some fine print. In place of labels, consumers could buy Pepsi points for ten cents each. He did the math and quickly figured out that it’d take him $700,000 to buy the Pepsi points he needed for the Harrier Jet. Then Leonard hit the phones and convinced five well off investors to give him the $700,000.
He sent Pepsi 15 labels and a check and waited for his jet.
The jet, though, never came. Pepsi’s response: the ad was just a joke.
In the end, Leonard’s lawsuit fizzled out. A court granted a summary judgment in favor of Pepsi and ruled that, “no objective person could reasonably have concluded that the commercial actually offered consumers a Harrier Jet.” [x]
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