Pepsi, Where's My Jet?

As far as documentaries go this one felt less one sided than most. It certainly keeps you rooting for John and his twenty year old dream to win a falsely advertised Harrier jet. But in the same token it really is a David VS Goliath story, and keeps it relatively light hearted. Pepsi is never overtly painted as the bad guy, and their Ad execs and creatives are allowed to chime in. John and his friend Todd share a great bond over climbing and it's heartwarming at times, especially the fourth and last episode.

If you don't know the end of the story DON'T look it up. I'm really glad I didn't!

As a docu-series goes it's fun , and has the usual twists and turns. Not a bad way to relax for an evening or two. It is not your average overdramatic drama, is mostly narrated by the actual people, with only a few scenes recreated. I dug it because I was a kid when it happened and never know the outcome.

As Episode 1 of "Pepsi, Where's My Jet" (2022 release; 4 episodes ranging from 36 to 43 min) opens, we are introduced to the cutting edge ad campaigns by Pepsi in the 90s, as the cola wars raged between Coke and Pepsi. In 1995, Pepsi launched the "Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff" campaign, including "7,000,000 points: Harrier Fight" (the military jet that can take off and land vertically). John Leonard, a 20 yo from Seattle, facies that jet and starts plotting a way to collect 7,000,000 Pepsi points. At this point we are 10 min into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from documentary producer/director Andrew Renzo )("Ready For War"). Here he looks back at the stranger than fiction story of how a 20 yo took on Pepsi over the promise/offer to give a military jet if one collects 7 million Pepsi points. Of course I'm not going to spoil how it all turns out, but let's just say that lawyers get involved. Lots of lawyers. The tone of this mini-series is firmly tongue-in-cheek, none more so than by the protagonist, John Leonard, who lives to tell the tale now a quarter century later, and his "can you believe this happened to me?" way of talking to us. That said, even though it runs only 4 episodes, there is quite a bit of fluff in this, in particularly as Renzi reflects on Leonard's ongoing friendship to this day with another protagonist in the story. Totally unrelated: I kept thinking to myself that Pepsi's ad campaigns in those days were indeed very much cutting edge. Whatever happened to that? We need a new cola war!

"Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" premiered on Netflix last week, and all 4 episodes are now streaming. If you are in the mood for a light=hearted "stranger than fiction" documentary, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I just read some reviews from other people and I don't understand why they think it was too long. It was only 4 episodes and the episodes are less than 40 minutes each. They go so fast!

I was hooked from the beginning. I knew nothing about this going in so I didn't know what the outcome would either. Some of the people in this documentary are funny, some are smart, some are stupid and some are creeps. It has it all.

Such an interesting story, I also liked the Philippines story and would like to hear more about that. So sad!

I know which I prefer (coke) and I know how I would have voted if I were on a jury deciding this case (there was no fine print - you can't say "it was a joke". It's like cheating on your wife then saying "it didn't mean anything". Give him the damn jet.) I laughed out loud in a few parts of this! Super enjoyable.

This is a pretty good series! I know I was hooked as soon as I saw the trailer for the series, but the series lived up to my expectations.

Covering the Scandal and Court Case from the 1990's, Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc. This docuseries brings in both sides with John Leonard and his team speaking and Pepsi employees giving their takes from the corporate perspective. Both sides having their chance to speak and give their arguments although I won't ignore that this series is biased towards Leonard and rightfully so.

While I wish there was more to the series, it was the right length and kept you enthralled throughout each episode. Sometimes I feel a lot of the docuseries nowadays are overdone, but this was a solid series in everyway.

Be like John. Keep dreaming and working to achieve your dreams!

Although I was in my twenties in the nineties, I didn't know this story (I'm from Europe). That means I didn't know the ending. Some people here commenting on how it could've been told in five minutes... I don't agree! I simply don't. Since it eventually became highly discussed law book material, it was complex matter.

I have to give kudos to the makers who did an amazing job in storytelling, crazy montage, chosing the music and making this a four episode fun and interesting to watch documentary. I dated a documentary maker so I watched first hand that making a documentary is a hatd and lengthy process. The makers definitely succeeded in making a good one.