Entertainment
Andrew Renzi Explores Tale of ‘Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?’
The forthcoming documentary series retells the narrative of a Pepsi enthusiast’s pursuit for a promotional aircraft.
During the 1990s, Pepsi initiated their Pepsi Points campaign, where consumers who collected labels from Pepsi items could exchange them for various Pepsi-branded possessions. The advertisement famously stated that, if a patron managed to accumulate 7 million points, they could exchange them for a Pepsi-branded Harrier jet. Naturally, this was a jest, as no one anticipated anyone to truly go through the effort of saving that many points. Nevertheless, one individual did and engaged in a years-long battle with Pepsi to acquire that jet.
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Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is an upcoming docuseries arriving on Netflix this week that delves into the story of John Leonard, a university student who exploited a loophole in the system to amass 7 million Pepsi Points, and demanded the Harrier jet.
“John possessed this Spielberg-esque quality in his youth where the notion of anything being achievable resonated,” elucidated the director of the show, Andrew Renzi, during an interview with The Guardian. “I likened John Leonard at 19 years old to Peter Sellers in the film Being There.”
Originally, Renzi contemplated workshopping a fictionalized rendition of the narrative for the show, but after consulting with Leonard, who presently serves as a park ranger, he grasped the necessity for the complete story.
Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? View the preview for the fresh docuseries https://t.co/ulYCyS2u6d#PepsiWheresMyJet #Netflix #documentary pic.twitter.com/PCmf3Kiw5r
— Phil Edwards (@Live_for_Films) October 25, 2022
“That was in the distant past,” Leonard shared. “I preferred to keep it as a humorous anecdote from years ago.” His perspective shifted after the triumph of series like Tiger King, which prompted creators to seek out more compelling documentary subject matters. “There were individuals with insincere intentions who adopted an excessively pushy, Hollywood-esque approach. But Renzi caught my attention with an email. Amidst the myriad of messages, his felt truly genuine. It wasn’t the usual flattery. Simultaneously, [Todd Hoffman] and I had a discussion. He expressed that this was a remarkable tale requiring the right storyteller. He remarked: ‘If this were to be on my epitaph after I pass, I’d depart contented.’”
