What ever happened to the guy who sued for the Harrier jet in the mid 90’s pepsi point promotion?

I know you remember this. Pepsi advertised a jet in a commercial designed to promote it’s Pepsi Points campaign. Guy collects points and turns all 7 million of them for his prize. Prize denied.

Why? The gentleman had 15 existing points, paid $0.10 a point for the remaining 6,999,985 points and a $10 shipping and handling fee. He had only collected 15 points and ventured to pay for the rest exploiting a loophole in the contest rules…or so he thought.

The case was finally decided in 1999, and the claim was refuted on three grounds:

1. It was found that the advertisement featuring the jet did not constitute an offer.
2. The court found that even if the advertisement had been an offer, no reasonable person could have believed that the company seriously intended to convey a jet worth $22 million for under a million dollars.
3. The value of the alleged contract meant that it fell under the provisions of the statute of frauds but the Statute’s requirement for writing between the parties was not fulfilled, so a contract had not been formed.

Leonard, a 21 year old business student at the time, should have done a bit more research. These aircraft can be purchased from the government at a cost of approximately $33.8 million. Critical, though, is the fact the the planes will come unable to fly as all crucial war mechanisms are disabled including the engine and the aircraft’s desirable vertical take-off mechanism…but that point is now long benign.

I was curious about this story and it’s outcome and now i know. And knowing is half the battle…