There is something about lawsuits and the legal system that is inherently fascinating in many ways. It’s in part why there are so many television shows, films, books, and even theatrical plays about trials and court cases. Even more fascinating is when a court case connects to pop culture. Doubly so if there’s a nostalgia factor. That’s why our collective ears perked up for an upcoming documentary series from Netflix. What court case in particular does this series focus on? Why it’s Leonard v. PepsiCo, otherwise known as the Pepsi Points Case.
“Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” tells the story of John Leonard and his attempt to hold Pepsi accountable for an ad and contest they ran in the mid 90s for their Pepsi Stuff program. The rewards-style program allowed participants to collect Pepsi Points, and redeem them for items in a catalog. The commercial showed a young teenager sporting shades, a Pepsi t-shirt, and leather jacket- all with the points value printed underneath them. The commercial then showed the kid arriving at school in a Harrier fighter jet. The cost for that little vehicle? 7,000,000 points. Keep in mind the other items only cost anywhere from 75 to 1450 points.
PepsiCo maintains the Harrier jet was ‘obviously’ a joke. But John Leonard didn’t take it that way.
What ensued was an insane legal case that made its mark on the intersection of law, pop culture, and advertising. The commercial was so ubiquitous, even if you didn’t know about the lawsuit, you probably know the commercial itself.
Netflix’s documentary interviews the key players including Leonard, members of his family, some of the people he managed to get involved with his plan to get the jet, and some nameless faces that seem to be very pro-Pepsi from what they have to say.
If you’re not convinced that this could be a legitimately interesting documentary, remember”McMillion$.” Across six parts, it told the story of deception behind McDonald’s Monopoly game. And how it was rigged in a way that most people- McDonald’s included- wouldn’t have expected. Obviously, it goes into the territory of illegal dealings. The Pepsi Points case, unless you consider the ad being some sort of potential contract, doesn’t. Although that’s a nebulous argument at best. This is where the conflict in “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” pretty much stems from.
If this sounds interesting to you, the lawsuit was resolved in 1999. While we shouldn’t have to avoid going into spoilers for a 23 year old legal case; we’ll leave out those details for now. You can either spoil it for yourself by researching it, or you can wait til the 4-part documentary series releases.
“Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” hits Netflix on November 17th, 2022.
