4 ms·

Really? The silly "Harrier Jet" commercial that was obviously a joke?

• willvarfar 3y ago
  Spoiler alert on the documentary, they had caveats on the canadian version of the ad but had deliberately put a lower number on the US ad to make it feel more real. Etc. The ad designer was saying 'don't put me on the stand'.
• taylodl 3y ago
  Obviously a joke, eh? A commercial pitched to adolescents? A company that fought tooth and nail to make sure the case never made it to a jury trial? What's Pepsi so afraid of? You should be ashamed of yourself for being a corporate stooge.
  • mcphage 3y ago
    > Obviously a joke, eh? Yes, the Harrier Jet offer was obviously a joke. > A company that fought tooth and nail to make sure the case never made it to a jury trial? Well they’re also a shitty company. Both things are true. > You should be ashamed of yourself for being a corporate stooge. I think our legal system would be much improved by expecting a certain level of critical thinking before lawyers get involved.
  • morelisp 3y ago
    I was the target audience for the commercial. It was obviously a joke.
• nullc 3y ago
  They had a draft version that was obvious a joke and set the price 100x higher. They lowered it to get people excited about the prospect of actually getting the jet. In other countries, like Canada, they also ran with a disclaimer. It wasn't obviously a joke. At the time the expenditure on actually providing it would have been ground breaking, but not too many years later marketing spends were high enough that it would have been a reasonable cost of business (and a phenomenal promotion to actually do it). There are even insurance programs now that focus on fringe outcomes in marketing campaigns, specifically so you can have unlikely to be claimed grand prizes at a managed level of risk. In fact, I believe Pepsi's loss on the jet would have been pretty similar to the Taco bell 2001 MIR splashdown promotion (where they offered free tacos to every American if MIR hit their target).
  • morelisp 3y ago
    > it would have been a reasonable cost of business There's no universe where a business sells $37000000 jets for $700000 and it's reasonable.
    • Dylan16807 3y ago
      Not "jets", but "jet"? $30M is totally a plausible price for that scale of marketing stunt.
      • nullc 3y ago
        Exactly.
      • morelisp 3y ago
        No it's not. Maybe if you're talking about a contest, but if you're talking about straight up exchanging cash for the jet like the kid tried, it's obviously a joke. Even by your logic: Do you also think there was only one pair of sunglasses? One duffel bag? So why one jet?
        • Dylan16807 3y ago
          It doesn't need to be a contest to get huge amounts of press attention. > obviously a joke They decided to alter the campaign to make it look less like a joke, because that would market better. Imagine the marketability if it wasn't a joke! > Even by your logic: Do you also think there was only one pair of sunglasses? One duffel bag? So why one jet? More expensive items have smaller stocks. Much more expensive items have much smaller stocks. Is this not obvious? If something had to be equal between prizes types, I would expect it to be total value, not quantity.