Pentagon: Pepsi ad 'not the real thing'

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Pentagon: Pepsi ad 'not the real thing'


Says Pepsi can't buy Harrier

August 9, 1996
Web posted at: 1:10 a.m. EDT 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon said Thursday that even if Pepsi 
loses its legal battle over a television commercial that jokingly 
offered a military jet as a prize, it would not be possible for 
the company to buy one of the jets. 

The controversy began when Pepsi Cola ran a television ad that 
seemed to offer a military Harrier vertical take-off jet to any 
customer that accumulated seven million points in a company contest. 

While most television viewers apparently took the offer in jest, 
21-year-old John Leonard decided to take "the Pepsi challenge" 
and demanded the jet as offered in the commercial. 

Leonard would have had to drink 16.8 million cans of Pepsi to earn 
the Harrier. But he says the company initially told him he had 
the option of buying Pepsi points for 10 cents each. 

Leonard then rounded up five investors and on March 28 delivered 
to Pepsi 15 original Pepsi Points, plus a check for $700,008.50 
for the remaining 6,999,985 points and shipping and handling. 

The situation has since deteriorated into a back-and-forth court 
battle with Pepsi suing Leonard, and Leonard suing Pepsi right 
back. 

Pepsi has said that it has no intention of supplying the plane 
to Leonard. 

Merits of the lawsuits aside, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said 
Thursday that he was not aware of any inquiries to the Pentagon 
by PepsiCo Inc. about a possible acquisition. 

"According to what I've read, the Pepsi ad wasn't the real 
thing," Bacon said wryly. 

The AV-8 Harrier Vertical-Short Take Off and Landing (VSTOL) attack 
jet is used in the United States exclusively by the Marine Corps 
and it is not for sale, said Bacon. 

"It would not be possible," Bacon said, "for the company or 
any private citizen to purchase their own Harrier "Jump-Jet," 
regardless of the reason." 

He pointed out that Harriers are not now in production, are not 
certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and use 
up to 11.4 gallons of fuel per minute. 

Maintenance costs would also run into the millions of dollars 
per year, according to Marine sources. 

It is possible to buy some military hardware, such as a tank, 
for private use, but the weapons have to be "de-militarized" 
before the sale is allowed. In other words, it has to be rendered 
useless as an offensive weapon. 

The U.S. version of the Harrier is typically armed with air-to-air 
and air-to-ground missile capability as well as a six barrel 
machine gun. 

The United States has 175 Harriers in its inventory.


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