Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?’ On Netflix, About How Two Guys Took Pepsi Up On Their Offer Of A Fighter Jet For Pepsi Points

Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?, produced by Vivian Johnson Rogowski, is a four-part docuseries about how, in 1995, 20-year-old John Leonard and an adventurous investor Todd Hoffman found a loophole in the “Pepsi Stuff” campaign, where people cashed in “Pepsi Points” for merch, to cash in 7 million points for a Harrier fighter jet.

PEPSI, WHERE’S MY JET?: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The director tells someone off camera, “We’re going to have you take the Pepsi Challenge.” We pan up from two metal cups to see that the person they’re asking to do it is Cindy Crawford.

The Gist: How did Johnson and Hoffman get to the point where they could claim the jet? Through interviews with Pepsi execs at the time and execs from their advertising firms, we review what the second-place cola maker’s ads were like in the ’80s and ’90s (hence the interview with Crawford, a star in one of the more memorable campaigns). Pepsi always positioned itself as the young and hip cola, vs. Coke and its holiday polar bears. One of the campaigns was “Pepsi Stuff”, and in an ad for it, the person wearing the Pepsi merch flies to school on a Harrier fighter jet, which a caption says is worth 7 million Pepsi points — with no fine print disclaimer saying that it wasn’t a real prize.

When Leonard saw the ad, he tried to figure out how he could gather that many Pepsi Points to get the jet, which normally costs about $32 million. He eventually realized that he would need a large outlay of cash to accomplish this, so he turned to Hoffman, an adventurer whom he became friends with when Leonard was Hoffman’s guide on a climb of Mt. Denali.

While a big risk taker, Hoffman still wanted Leonard to give him a business plan; when Hoffman laid out the complex scheme, he estimated it would cost over $4 million to implement, but Hoffman still had questions that poked holes in the plan. Things were looking impossible until Leonard saw some fine print in a Pepsi Stuff catalog that says you can buy as many Pepsi Points as you want for some Pepsi Points you already have and 10 cents per desired number of points you want to buy. That cut the cost down tremendously, but also cut the risk that the promotion would end before they got the 7 million points.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? has the goofy, tongue-in-cheek tone of docuseries like McMillions.

Our Take: The story of Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is relatively straightforward: Two guys take advantage of some sloppy legal due diligence by a massive corporation, face legal challenges from an army (no pun intended) of high-priced of attorneys, and fight until the bitter end. Did Leonard and Hoffman win and ultimately take possession of the jet? Well, you can Google that or just watch the four episodes and find out. Normally, we tend to go the spoiler route, but the docuseries was so enjoyable we figured we’ll wait it out.

The filmmakers do a good job of putting this story into perspective. It’s goofy and silly, but it’s definitely illustrative of what could happen if even companies as big as PepsiCo and their advertising firm don’t close as many loopholes as possible. It’s arrogance, a stance that no one would possibly try to trade points for a fighter jet. But you knew that someone was going to try to take advantage of Pepsi’s mistakes. And, for Leonard and Hoffman’s part, they were taking advantage of the offer in a very legal and straightforward way.

What we loved is that, 25+ years later, Leonard and Hoffman are still passionate about the topic and what they tried to accomplish. Hoffman is particularly emphatic; “Fuck them! I’m writing the check, I’m sending it in, and we’re off on our adventure!”

Is there some superfluous goofiness? Sure. Reenactments of Leonard and Hoffman in the ’90s are a bit invasive, but another gimmick, where every interviewee takes a Pepsi Challenge, with the producers keeping score, is entertaining if not particularly pertinent to the story.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: An image of a fighter jet backing into a glass building. For the most part, it sets up the second episode, where Pepsi gets the check and then starts the legal posturing.

Sleeper Star: John Leonard’s mother Linda is funny, especially when she tried to recall all the jobs John had in high school and college. She then jokes that he wishes he was Harry Styles because she’s a Harry Styes fan.

Most Pilot-y Line: Crawford talks about how people wear the white tank top and jean shorts she wore in her classic early ’90s Diet Pepsi ad as Halloween costumes today and on TikTok. We guess that’s possible, but the ad is 30 years old. What Gen Zer is going to care about a 30 year-old commercial?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? doesn’t even try to take itself seriously, making for a fun look at how the little guy tried to call a big corporation on its mistakes. We don’t imagine they got away with it, but we’re looking forward to the journey they took to get to that point.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.