Grex Music2 Conference

Item 254: Pepsi Summer Music Promotion

Entered by krj on Wed May 24 18:54:34 2000:

Pepsi's summer promotion: collect Pepsi Points on bottle caps and 
trade them in towards custom made CDs.  50 points for a five-track
CD or 100 points for a ten-track CD.
 
You can find the artists and tracks you can choose from at 
www.pepsi.com; there are Real Audio previews.  There's even some tracks
for a music snob like me: stuff from Wilco, Catatonia and even 
Great Big Sea.

The Pepsi Points are going to be distributed through July 27, and 
they are supposed to be redeemed by August 31.

I just know this is going to get in the way of my attempt to stop 
drinking so much Diet Pepsi.
59 responses total.

#1 of 59 by mcnally on Wed May 24 19:11:08 2000:

  Do the pepsi points qualify for different musical selections than the
  Mountain Dew ones?  I read through the list on the inside of a Mt. Dew
  carton and decided that it was unlikely I could choose five tracks that
  I was interested in from the selections available, and that I'd have to
  drink an awful lot of soda to make it worth my while..

  As far as getting in the way of giving up pop -- unless you're really
  looking for an excuse not to, it seems like the "pepsi points" are 
  expensive enough not to provide much additional inducement to buy the 
  product.  If you're going to buy the pop anyway, sure, redeem the points
  if there's music you want, but if not, save the money you'd've spent
  on pop and buy a couple of full-length albums!


#2 of 59 by krj on Wed May 24 19:18:15 2000:

Mountain Dew is a Pepsi brand, so I assume the points are all pool-able.


#3 of 59 by orinoco on Wed May 24 21:30:57 2000:

Are you sure the list was a complete one?  I doubt they're gonna appeal to
many Mountain Dew drinkers by listing a band called Catatonia; they might just
have left that one off.....



#4 of 59 by mcnally on Wed May 24 21:53:15 2000:

  I wonder if they're different lists, anyway.   I don't remember seeing
  Great Big Sea, for instance..


#5 of 59 by ric on Wed May 24 21:54:30 2000:

They aren't goign to give away another Harrier jet are they? :)


#6 of 59 by mcnally on Wed May 24 22:03:19 2000:

  I think they learned their lesson on that one..  (said lesson being
  that no matter how obvious it should be that something was intended
  as a joke, there's always going to be *someone* out there with no
  sense of humor and money to hire a lawyer..)


#7 of 59 by krj on Wed May 24 22:12:21 2000:

I think "Great Big Sea" was listed in a page marked "Recent Additions,"
so they may well have just missed the deadline for the print materials.
 
I'm tremendously amused by the idea of GBS's song "Mari-mac" getting 
a mainstream marketing push like this.


#8 of 59 by jmsaul on Thu May 25 01:06:49 2000:

Re #6:  Personally, I think the Harrier guy had a sense of humor.


#9 of 59 by mcnally on Thu May 25 01:09:33 2000:

  To show up with 8 gazillion pepsi points and demand your Harrier is
  one thing.  To sue the company for a jet nobody ever seriously believed
  they were offering is another.


#10 of 59 by eeyore on Thu May 25 01:59:53 2000:

Wow...not even GBS most recent.....and I agree with Ken.....Mari-mac getting
a push is *very* amusing.....but would be appropriate for the Mt. Dew
drinkers. :)


#11 of 59 by jmsaul on Thu May 25 02:03:18 2000:

Re #9:  I dunno.  Keep in mind he's doing this to a major company that
        has tons of money, ubiquitous advertising, and a legal department
        that should've warned them.  I still think it was funny.


#12 of 59 by omni on Thu May 25 02:35:18 2000:

  I tend to avoid anything with the Pepsi stain on it. 

  The usual deal is you spend tons of money and get back very little in
return. Sorry, this is one rat who isn't going to follow the crowd.


#13 of 59 by gypsi on Thu May 25 06:11:05 2000:

I would love a Harrier.  Those things are cool.  =)

Drinking nine thousand gallons of Pepsi for a ten-track cd isn't worth it to
me.  <shrug>


#14 of 59 by jmsaul on Thu May 25 11:57:50 2000:

"My God, Alice, what is that roaring noise?!  Head for the basement, it's
 a tornado!"

"Stop opening windows, Ted, it's just the Domino's driver..."

Bet you could get those pizzas there a lot faster...


#15 of 59 by mooncat on Thu May 25 15:28:50 2000:

<laughs>

I drink a ton of Diet Pepsi, might as well save points and get a cd or 
two. <shrugs>


#16 of 59 by goose on Thu May 25 15:37:13 2000:

(RE#14 -- A small note here: opening windows before/during a tornado is not
necessary, nor will it save your house/life...despte what we were told as kids
in the 70's, we're advised not to do it anymore...)


#17 of 59 by jmsaul on Thu May 25 17:29:20 2000:

(I know, but anyone who's stupid enough to mistake a Harrier landing in
 their driveway for a tornado probably doesn't.  I debated putting in a
 public service announcement similar to yours, but didn't.)


#18 of 59 by goose on Thu May 25 18:10:56 2000:

I know *you* know Joe, but that was for the benefit of um...others...;-)


#19 of 59 by ric on Thu May 25 18:25:18 2000:

It's actually DANGEROUS to go around opening windows, rather than going for
immediate safety.


#20 of 59 by jmsaul on Thu May 25 18:39:48 2000:

Yes.  And if you hear a Harrier landing in your driveway, you should also
stay the hell away from the windows, because it'll blow them out.


#21 of 59 by omni on Thu May 25 19:28:07 2000:

  As Dr Ojalla said in Skywarn class. "Don't open the windows during a
tornado. The tornado will do that for you." I'm paraphrasing, but that
was the general point. Best thing to do when a tornado is coming is to
find a safe secure place, and pray.

  I'd rather have an F-18.


#22 of 59 by mcnally on Thu May 25 19:41:53 2000:

This response has been erased.



#23 of 59 by mcnally on Thu May 25 19:42:29 2000:

  F18?  I didn't know the Fujita scale went that high!

  ;-)


#24 of 59 by jep on Thu May 25 20:42:11 2000:

I don't understand the references to the Harrier jet.  Can someone 
explain, please?


#25 of 59 by mooncat on Thu May 25 21:21:56 2000:

John- several years ago there was this thing where if you collected 
'Pepsi Points' could could "buy" merchandise, t-shirts, shoes, watches 
just stuff.  One of their commercials for these points featured a 
Harrier Jet at the end with something like 8,000,000,000 points (or 
something). Initially it didn't state that was a joke, and some guy got 
the required points and asked them for the jet.


#26 of 59 by jmsaul on Thu May 25 21:30:09 2000:

Re #21:  Not for delivering pizza to people's houses.

Re #23:  ;-)


#27 of 59 by jep on Thu May 25 22:07:21 2000:

#25: Ah.  Thanks!  I take it he went to court to get his jet.  How did 
the courts treat the request?


#28 of 59 by goose on Thu May 25 22:09:42 2000:

The storms that produce F-18 tornadoes also produce basketball sized hail,
LOOK OUT!


#29 of 59 by gypsi on Thu May 25 22:19:57 2000:

<lol at #14>  I like that.  =)


#30 of 59 by ric on Fri May 26 00:21:21 2000:

The guy who managed to achieve the 8 billion Pepsi Points or whatever found
that you could BUY pepsi points directly from Pepsi.  So he signed on some
lawyer/investor types, bought the required points for something like $150,000
and then asked for his harrier jet.  When Pepsi wouldn't comply, the
lawyer-types sued Pepsi for false advertising (or something like that) and
requested damages in the amount of the cost of a harrier jet.

Presumably, the case was settled out of court, and the dude and his lawyers
got their $150,000 back and then some.


#31 of 59 by omni on Fri May 26 05:25:41 2000:

  Maybe I should have said a F-18 Hornet; one of the Navy's baddest badass
jets.


#32 of 59 by jmsaul on Fri May 26 13:52:48 2000:

Sure, but her customers would have to install arresting cables and catapults.


#33 of 59 by brighn on Fri May 26 14:53:18 2000:

#30> Some people just have too much time and money on their hands.


#34 of 59 by jmsaul on Fri May 26 16:18:03 2000:

(Time, yes, but I don't think he used his own money. ;-)


#35 of 59 by aaron on Fri May 26 16:23:54 2000:

re #30: It was only 7 million points, which he obtained by getting friends
        to commit a whopping $700,000. Pepsi brought a declaratory action,
        and a trial court ruled that no reasonable person would have
        believed that the offer was serious, dismissing the claim. I don't
        know if Pepsi tried to play hardball, and said, "Now, select 7
        million points worth of Pepsi merchandise," or if they issued a
        refund. (Well, it is safe to assume that they returned the money,
        but I do like the idea of the guy getting stuck with several
        thousand items of junky Pepsi merchandise.)

re #33: Usually the wrong people.


#36 of 59 by krj on Fri May 26 16:30:17 2000:

Aaron, could you explain what a "declaratory action" is, I have never 
heard that term before.


#37 of 59 by aaron on Sat May 27 03:46:43 2000:

It's an action to clarify the legal rights and responsibilities of the
parties. An insurance company might bring such an action, when asked to
cover a claim that it does not believe is covered by its policy. In
this case, Pepsi brought the action to have the court declare that it
had no legal duty to provide the requested jet.


#38 of 59 by dbratman on Tue May 30 20:12:17 2000:

In the 1940s, Burma-Shave made a joke offer of a trip to Mars for 
[number in the thousands] empty jars.  (I'm sure the Mars/jars rhyme was 
deliberate: the offer was probably on one of their famous sign 
sequences.)  Some guy decided to collect that many jars, with the help 
of his friends and neighbors, and he told Burma-Shave that he was 
working on this.

Did Burma-Shave huff and puff and threaten legal proceedings?  They did 
not.  They looked in an atlas, found a town in Germany called Mars, and 
gave the man and his wife an all expenses paid vacation there.  
Everybody was happy.


#39 of 59 by aaron on Tue May 30 20:20:28 2000:

Actually, it wasn't Pepsi that huffed and puffed and threatened legal
proceedings. They chose to react to that huffing and puffing by cutting
the threats off at the knees. But, no matter how you look at it, there is
no easy substitute for a Harrier Jet. Not even in Germany. 


#40 of 59 by brighn on Tue May 30 20:25:25 2000:

I"m sure China makes some budget-friendly Harrier jets.


#41 of 59 by gypsi on Tue May 30 20:44:57 2000:

They could give him a model of a Harrier jet.  =)


#42 of 59 by mdw on Wed May 31 00:38:03 2000:

You just need to find a hash harrier who also happens to ride a
motorcycle.  The little nozzles the gasonline sprays out of in the
carburetor are obviously "harrier jets".


#43 of 59 by jmsaul on Wed May 31 02:58:23 2000:

It would take Perry Mason to make that argument stick in court.


#44 of 59 by void on Wed May 31 03:51:40 2000:

   they might even have been able to arrange for him to ride in a
harrier jet.


#45 of 59 by johnnie on Wed May 31 18:36:37 2000:

I suspect he was more interested in money.


#46 of 59 by janc on Mon Jun 5 20:03:59 2000:

I read the plaintiff's declaration in the Harrier suit on the web at
some point.  As I recall, the guy sent Pepsi about 5 actual Pepsi
points, a check for about $700,000 (or whatever) and asked for his
Harrier.  Pepsi didn't send the Harrier, but they didn't cash the check
either - they returned it.  So he didn't need to get his money back.


#47 of 59 by brighn on Mon Jun 5 22:46:08 2000:

but he lost Five Valuable Pepsi Points.


#48 of 59 by mcnally on Mon Jun 5 23:39:42 2000:

  And suffered terrible psychological trauma, intentional infliction of
  emotional distress, soft tissue injury, and a paper cut from the envelope
  he used to mail his Pepsi Points.


#49 of 59 by brighn on Tue Jun 6 00:08:29 2000:

SUE! SUE! SUE! SUE!


#50 of 59 by janc on Tue Jun 6 03:22:35 2000:

He did.  The Judge said FRIVOLOUS!  FRIVOLOUS!  FRIVOLOUS!

But the media had fun.


#51 of 59 by omni on Tue Jun 6 03:59:57 2000:

  I have 2 points for the first person that sends me an SASE.


#52 of 59 by brighn on Tue Jun 6 06:12:38 2000:

I'm ot sure they're worth the SASE.


#53 of 59 by omni on Tue Jun 6 18:01:14 2000:

whatever.


#54 of 59 by carla on Tue Jun 6 21:53:47 2000:

hahahahaha.


#55 of 59 by krj on Tue Jul 18 18:27:32 2000:

Hey Bruin!  You mentioned getting your "Choose Your Music" cd 
in the "Music to Conference By" item.  Tell us about what music
you picked.  And did you drink all that Pepsi by yourself, or 
did you have help?

I find myself with only about 50 Pepsi points right now.  Argh.
I think I bought too many bottles out of vending machines, and the 
vending machines here at MSU never gave out the caps with points 
this summer.  Also, caffeine-free Diet Pepsi was left out of this 
promotion, and I've been drinking more of that, especially at night.
I'm going to have to decide whether I want to buy my fall stock of 
Diet Pepsi in early August: if I get boxes of cans, I can remove the
Music Points now and drink the rotgut later.  If I decide not to do 
that I will have to see who I want to bestow my Music Points collection
upon.


#56 of 59 by bruin on Wed Jul 19 01:25:49 2000:

I collected bottle caps mainly from the 1 liter and 2 liter Diet Pepsi, 
which included values of 1 to 10 music points.  And yes, I am a diehard 
Diet Pepsi drinker.

The playlist on the CD, per my request, is as follows"

 1. "I Can Love You Like That" - All-4-One

 2. "You Might Think" - The Cars

 3. "Hold On" - En Vogue

 4. "Blue Bayou" - Linda Ronstadt

 5. "Roundabout" - Yes

 6. "Roam" - The B-52's

 7. "Sussudio" - Phil Collins

 8. "Don't Know Much" - Linda Ronstadt with Aaron Neville

 9. "One More Night" - Phil Collins

10. "Good Times Roll" - The Cars

11. "This Kiss" - Faith Hill

The CD was mailed inside a cardboard mailer, so I'll have to get me a 
blank jewel box sometime soon.

BTW, my selections, as with the entire list, were in conjunction with 
Warner Music Group (Warner Bros., Elektra, Atlantic).




#57 of 59 by scott on Wed Jul 19 12:15:47 2000:

(Richard, send me an email and I'll bring you some CD boxes at the picnic)


#58 of 59 by carla on Tue Jul 25 16:56:06 2000:

hehe bruin, that's a pretty schitzo play list.  Don't get me wrong I like more
than half of those songs, but the list made my head ache. ;)


#59 of 59 by krj on Thu Aug 3 07:07:58 2000:

I was about ready to offer up my Pepsi Music Points for someone else 
here to claim.  But then a little bonanza came my way.  Leslie and I were 
taking rubbish and cans to the bear-proof recycling/trash facility 
in Snowmass Village, Colorado, and I spied the cardboard packaging
from two 24-can packs of Mountain Dew.  With their 10 Point tokens 
still attached! 

With these fortuitous 20 extra points -- thank you, anonymous donor! --
I'm up to 87 points total.  The "Choose Your Music" packages are 
starting to disappear from retailer shelves, so tonight I bought
26 points' worth of Diet Pepsi in cans and bottles -- I overbought because
I had not counted my points yet.  So, now it's time to hit the Pepsi 
web site and start picking some songs.   I'll probably stick to the 
classic rock stuff.  Suggestions welcome!


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