Pepsi Points Lawsuit

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Several years ago when Pepsi-Co ran their Pepsi Points campaign there was an advertisement on television where one of the prizes was a Harrier Jet used by the U.S. military.  John Leonard went to trial with Pepsi-Co to try to recieve his Harrier jet.  Pepsi-Co did not make an offer to John Leonard but to the whole viewing audience to make an offer, therefore it is not a legit contract.  Even though Leonard called to confirm the information, Pepsi-Co never made an offer to him so his confirmation of the information does not constitute as acceptance of an offer.  Since there were no grounds for a contract a contract was not established.  If I were a Pepsi-Co executive, I would have never tried to entice the viewing audience with a Harrier jet. 

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Pepsi Co should have had a disclaimer at the bottom of the advertisement noting that the Harrier was not an actual prize.  That would have avoided this whole situation.  So, since an offer was never made, the grounds for giving away a jet that is not available to the public for under a million dollars when it is worth around twenty-three million dollars is an outlandish idea, and the idea that Leonard believed this was a contract meant that it fell under the provisions of the statute of frauds (the statute’s requirement for writing between the parties was not fulfilled).  Based on all of this a contract was not formed.  Leonard needed better legal advice before considering this lawsuit.