"7 million points for a Harrier fighter!"
This is an advertising slogan once launched by PepsiCo, which is nothing more than to stimulate consumption.
However, one young man actually scraped together the points and went to PepsiCo to redeem the fighter jet.
So did he finally get the fighter as he wished?
The source of this article comes from the official media [New Evening News] [Changyi Procuratorate] and others (the link is attached at the end of the article). In order to improve the readability of the article, there may be polishing of the details, please read sensibly, for reference only!
Accumulate enough points
In the summer of 1995, when John Leonard was still a business school student, he saw PepsiCo launch an unprecedented marketing campaign -
Accumulate 7 million Coke points in exchange for a $30 million Harrier fighter.
Even though the prize sounded impossible, John was intrigued by the challenge.
As a young man with a very keen business acumen, John realized that this was not just a gimmick, but a great opportunity.
He began to make a detailed plan to collect points on the Coke bottle cap.
Initially, John was just looking around the school to buy points from his classmates.
Soon, he realized that he couldn't reach his goal on his own.
So, John began looking for investors to raise money from family and friends.
He devised a business plan that explained in detail how to earn points by buying large quantities of Coke, as well as the potential profit margins in the process.
With his excellent negotiation skills, John finally persuaded 5 investors to raise a total of $700,000 in start-up capital.
With this funding backed, he hired a small team dedicated to recycling and disassembling Coke bottle caps and counting the number of points.
To maximize efficiency, John even set up a recycling bin on campus to encourage other students to donate the points they have on hand.
Gradually, the number of points began to skyrocket.
John's team works hard every day, even on weekends and holidays.
The cokes they purchased came from all over the country, and at one point even led to a shortage in the local market.
In order to maintain supply, John had to work with dealers in other regions to organize large-scale long-distance transportation.
Along the way, John faced a myriad of challenges and obstacles.
Sometimes the goods are damaged in transit, and sometimes the local dealer will inflate the price.
However, John was never discouraged, and the points in his hand were the biggest motivation.
After nearly a year of hard work, John finally scraped together 7 million points and became the first person in the United States to complete the Pepsi Challenge.
With this impressive result, John walked into PepsiCo's headquarters with excitement, ready to cash in his trophy - a $30 million Harrier fighter jet.
However, things turned out to be unexpected.
700,000 to buy Coke
When John Leonard walked into PepsiCo's headquarters with excitement, the reaction from the company's top brass was beyond his expectations.
They looked at each other with embarrassed expressions, as if they hadn't expected anyone to actually complete this crazy challenge.
A spokesman for the company began to hesitate, trying to explain that it was just an advertising gimmick and that it had never been intended to actually cash in on the fighter jet.
They explained that the transfer of a military aircraft to an individual was simply not possible due to legal obstacles and sensitive issues such as national security.
John was disappointed, of course, but he wasn't discouraged.
As a young man who has the courage to pursue his dreams, he is determined to defend his rights and interests through legal means.
So he quickly sought out a top law firm with a strong reputation and prepared to file a lawsuit against PepsiCo.
He hired Michael Scott, the firm's senior partner, as his litigation agent.
Scott is a seasoned advocate of consumer advocacy and a proven track record of consumer advocacy.
Scott and his team then embarked on an in-depth investigation that lasted several months.
They reviewed all the promotional materials for the Pepsi campaign and gathered a wealth of evidence in their favour.
These include the exaggerated but seductive slogans, the details of the rules of the game, and all the hard work John has done to earn points, such as buying hundreds of thousands of cans of Coke.
Finally, when everything was ready, John Leonard formally filed a complaint against PepsiCo, accusing the other party of breaking promises and deceiving consumers.
As a result, a sensational lawsuit across the country began.
Pepsi really has fighters
In fact, there is a little-known episode behind this sensational lawsuit.
It turned out that in the eighties and nineties of the last century, Pepsi had a special deal with the former Soviet Union, and they did have fighter jets.
It was the end of the Cold War, and the protracted arms race and inefficient planned economy had left the superpower with little left in its treasury and its foreign exchange reserves even more devastating.
In order to obtain much-needed foreign exchange as soon as possible and save the deteriorating financial situation, the Soviet government decided to auction off some military equipment in exchange for hard currency.
No one thought that Pepsi, a well-known beverage company, would actually be interested in buying weapons.
After some negotiations, an agreement was soon signed.
According to the terms of the agreement, PepsiCo will purchase 17 decommissioned destroyers, an old tank battalion, and a large number of other weapons and equipment from the Soviet Union for $300 million to repay the Soviet Union's debt to PepsiCo.
In this way, a company mainly engaged in sugar drinks inexplicably became one of the few private enterprises in the world with weapons.
Still, the deal was a good investment for PepsiCo, not only helping the company get out of a heavy debt burden.
At the same time, when needed, some weapons and equipment can be sold to other buyers for considerable profits.
However, while PepsiCo briefly had arms, the vast majority of them were civilian or obsolete old equipment.
Advanced weapons such as fighter jets, which companies clearly do not have the right to own, let alone give away to ordinary civilians.
After all, such an act would most likely violate the national security law and arms control regulations.
Therefore, this aspect must also be taken into account in the trial of John Leonard's v. PepsiCo case.
Outcome of the lawsuit
During the lengthy trial, Scott and PepsiCo's defense armies clashed fiercely in court.
PepsiCo's lawyers flatly denied that the company had promised to give away fighter jets, saying it was just an innocuous exaggeration in the advertisement designed to attract attention.
However, Scott categorically retorted that even if it seemed impossible to give away fighter jets, the company should keep its promises, start and finish, and not deceive consumers into trusting and then backtracking.
In the end, the judge, after weighing the arguments of both sides, made a verdict that had the best of both worlds.
The court held that PepsiCo was indeed suspected of excessive exaggeration and misleading in the design of the event, which constituted deception to consumers, and therefore could not be completely shirked.
Based on this determination, the court ordered PepsiCo to pay John $700,000 as a direct financial loss for his purchase of a large amount of Coke in order to earn points.
However, considering that there are serious legal obstacles to the donation of military fighter jets to civilians, involving sensitive areas such as national security, the court did not order the company to pay the high cost of the fighter jets.
In this regard, many netizens condemned Pepsi's false propaganda, and they felt that since they couldn't do it, they shouldn't talk nonsense.
Some people even sarcastically said that Pepsi could actually provide Leonard with a fighter driver's license and a plane parking permit, but apparently this is not possible.
However, because of this incident, Pepsi's credibility has plummeted, and sales have plummeted.
Behind false advertising is the integrity of a business.
Harrier fighter
In fact, the name "Harrier" mentioned in the advertising slogan is pure fiction.
In reality, there is no such thing as a fighter with such a name.
The Harrier, spelled Harrier in English, is a medium-sized attack aircraft, made in the United Kingdom.
Its biggest feature is its ability to take off and land vertically, hence the nickname "Jump Shooter".
But "harrier" is just a coined term to attract the attention of consumers.
The reason why Pepsi would exaggerate in its advertising and mention the so-called "Harrier fighter" is likely to cause controversy, so as to create a topic and increase exposure.
This is a bit of an overkill, but it certainly attracts a lot of attention.
The truth of the incident
In fact, the whole thing is a case study that first came out in 1999 when Jane Ingram, a law professor at the University of Calgary, presented a question in a marketing course to spark a discussion among students about the issue of advertising integrity.
Later, this fictional case was widely circulated on the Internet, and it was repeatedly mentioned and interpreted on various occasions as a real case.
But in fact, there is no real plaintiff named "John Leonard", and there has been no case of a lawsuit against PepsiCo and a successful case.
However, although this is a fictional case, the marketing philosophy and legal principles it embodies are real.
Acts such as false slogans, exaggerations, and misleading consumers do violate the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law and are likely to be regarded as breach of contract.
Although this is just a fictional case, the ideas and lessons it conveys are real, and there is still a certain practical guiding significance for improving the professional ethics of marketers and standardizing the order of the advertising market.
Bibliography:
1. New Evening News: Coke Company promised that 7 million points could be exchanged for fighter jets, but someone really saved enough2019-07-03
https://www.toutiao.com/article/6709383180404654595/?channel=&source=search_tab
2. Changyi Procuratorate: Pay attention to advertising! The Coke company can exchange fighter jets, as a result. 2019-07-10
https://www.toutiao.com/article/6711835266098659854/?channel=&source=news