Background
In the mid-1990s, PepsiCo aired a series of commercials aiming to promote their Pepsi products and associated point system. [2] According to this system, purchasing Pepsi products allowed customers to collect points that could be used to claim prizes such as T-shirts or sunglasses. [2] One commercial showed that, for seven million points, the prize was an AV-8B Harrier II jet. Its value at the time was estimated at US$32 million. [2] [a]
While Pepsi later claimed the commercial was tongue-in-cheek, it lacked a disclaimer indicating so. [4] John Leonard, a 21-year-old business student in 1996, found that it was possible to purchase Pepsi Points for 10 cents each: thus seven million points cost US$700,000. [1] [b] The rules only required a minimum of 15 Pepsi Points worth of physical tags from Pepsi products beyond the purchased points. [1]
Leonard convinced five investors to help him buy the remaining points. [2] One of these investors was Todd Hoffman. [4] [5] Leonard sent his points and a check to claim the jet. [2] PepsiCo denied his request and argued that the commercial was a joke. [2] [4] They pointed out that the jet was not an item offered in their catalog of products that can be obtained with Pepsi Points. [6]
After initially being sued by PepsiCo in the Southern District of New York, in an effort to establish a favorable venue, Leonard filed a lawsuit in Miami accusing PepsiCo of breach of contract, fraud, deceptive and unfair trade practices, and misleading advertising. [6] He hired political strategist—and later celebrity attorney—Michael Avenatti to be a part of his team. [1] [5] Meanwhile, the company requested that Leonard's claim be deemed frivolous. [2] The lawsuit became known as Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc. and was eventually transferred to a federal court in Manhattan in the Southern District of New York. [6]
In September 1997, the Pentagon announced that the jets were not for sale and would need to be "demilitarized" before being offered to the public. [6] In August 1999, judge Kimba Wood ruled in favor of PepsiCo with the argument that "[n]o objective person could reasonably have concluded that the commercial actually offered consumers a Harrier jet". [6] The company later updated their commercial to increase the number of Pepsi Points required for the jet from seven million to 700 million. [2]
Production
The title of the series was inspired by the comedy film Dude, Where's My Car? (2000). [1] Director Andrew Renzi was initially offered Pepsi, Where's My Jet? as a work of fiction, but shifted to making a documentary after contacting Leonard, who by that point was working as a park ranger in Alaska. [4] Following the success of Tiger King amid the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, producers became interested in making more documentaries about "weird historical stories". [4]
Leonard had intended to "keep [the lawsuit] back there, as something funny that happened a long time ago" and turned down several producers who wanted to work with him, but he accepted to work with Renzi because he felt that Renzi was "really sincere". [4] Leonard also discussed the matter with Hoffman, with whom he remained friends, and Hoffman told him that the story "needs to be told." [4] The relationship between Leonard and Hoffman was Renzi's "guiding post" while making the series. [4] Leonard's strategist and legal consultant Michael Avenatti filmed his segments while under house arrest for attempted extortion. [4]
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