Back in 1996, Pepsi’s legal battle over a promotional sweepstakes advertising a Harrier fighter jet as its top prize came to an end with a ruling in favor of the company, finding that “no objective person could reasonably have concluded that the commercial actually offered consumers a Harrier Jet” — according to a 2005 CBS News recap of the series of events.
Nearly 30 years later, a different beverage brand wants to prove it’s far enough away from “reasonable” to actually give away a jet for real. Liquid Death’s summer promotional sweepstakes is promising a Liquid Death-branded L-39 Aero Jet it has dubbed “Dehydrator” as a grand prize. (According to an ad promoting the contest, the plane was given the name because “with a top speed of about 470 mph, it’ll relive you of your bodily fluids and make you empty your stomach.” Gross.)
The brand claims it’s dead serious about the giveaway, and is also promising to give the winner six months of hangar space rental time with the jet.
The spark for the campaign, according to Liquid Death vice president of creative Andy Pearson, came from viewing “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?,” the 2022 Netflix documentary covering the 90s giveaway incident and resulting legal battle.
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