Wall Street Journal

LEAD STORY-DATELINE:

Wall Street Journal, August 9, 1999.

Assignment Type: Individual Project 3

S. Davenport

Course: Busn150-1201A-05 Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

Instructor: Lawrence Goosby

Date: January 21, 2012

You are working for the City of Anytown's Counsel, and it seems that your work largely involves shooting down the mayor's "creative" ideas to boost tourism. He is taken with the idea of an advertising campaign developed around auctioning Anytown on eBay! He thinks that no one will take the auction seriously but that people will come to Anytown to satisfy their curiosity.

As you and your boss are rolling your eyes at each other, you remember a similar situation—the Pepsi Harrier-Jet case. You offer to provide background information and write an executive summary addressing specific issues around contracts.

Seattle Man Loses in Battle With Pepsi for Harrier-Jet Prize

LEAD STORY-DATELINE:

Wall Street Journal, August 9, 1999.

John D. R. Leonard took PepsiCo seriously when one of its Pepsi stuff commercials made an offer of a Harrier jets—the famous high-tech "jump jet" used by the U.S. Marines. In a TV commercial that aired in 1995, Pepsi jokingly included the Harrier as one of the prizes that could be received with a mere 7 million Pepsi points. While that sounds like a lot of points to get from drinking Pepsi products (roughly 190 Pepsis a day for 100 years), the company also allowed customers to purchase points for 10 cents apiece.

Leonard did the math, and discovered that the cost of the 7 million points needed for the jet was a mere $700,000. He then put together a business plan, raised the $700,000 from friends and family, and submitted 15 Pepsi points, the check, and an official order form along with a demand for the Harrier jet.

PepsiCo wrote back, stating: "The Harrier jet in the Pepsi commercial is fanciful and is simply included to create a humorous and entertaining ad. We apologize for any misunderstanding or...