Man who sued Pepsi for not giving him a $32 million fighter jet has now gotten the ultimate reward after all these years

Remember the guy who sued Pepsi because they denied giving him a fighter jet in return for Pepsi points?

He never got the jet, took Pepsi to court, and lost.

But he never gave up, and now he’s finally received something that’s arguably even better.

Or at least more useful.

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This story sounds fake but it isn’t

Nearly every element of this story sounds factitious, but it isn’t.

Back in the 1990s, Pepsi ran a commercial (around the same time it painted a Concorde with Pepsi livery) that ‘promised’ prizes including an AV-8 Harrier II fighter jet if you collected enough points.

It would be easy to dismiss the idea with a ‘yeah, right’ comment, but the ad said what it said, and some people took it seriously.

John Leonard did.

He ended up spending around $700,000 to get enough points for the jet but, unfortunately for him, the Pepsi commercial was satirical.

Pepsi said the ad was clearly made for fun, at least the part of it in which they claimed they would give someone a jet, and dismissed Leonard’s Pepsi points.

Leonard was very unhappy, and so he took the company to court.

Leonard was slapped with some more bad news when the court ruled that no reasonable person could see the prize as genuine, which sounds logical, but still raises a question.

Pepsi didn’t give him a jet, but here’s why John Leonard still ‘won’ in the end

The obvious question is: why didn’t they include a disclaimer?

There was no disclaimer, fine print, or verbal/written note in the commercial essentially saying ‘just kidding’.

The humor relied on obvious exaggeration and absurdity alone.

But that’s not always how the law works, which is why two things happened.

First, Pepsi updated the ad after the lawsuit, adding a clear disclaimer on screen.

Second, John Leonard never gave up, which is how he eventually landed a Netflix documentary, and more importantly he finally received something in return for his persistence.

He didn’t get the fighter jet, but Frontier Airlines rewarded him with 7 million (!) miles, which means that he’ll basically be able to travel for free (on Frontier) for the rest of his life,.

The company’s also running a new promotion to give away 70 million miles.

And Frontier learned from Pepsi’s ‘mistake’, even making light of it.

The ad they aired to make the announcement has a caption that reads: “John Leonard will not receive the aircraft, just miles.”