Pepsi is running some stupid commercials with a white kid cradling a snifter full of Pepsi as old white guys talk about how they made their first billion. The kid won his from Pepsi, of course — and now apparently thinks hanging out with pretentious old guys is cool, provided they have a “foosball table.”

This preposterous scene seems appropriate for this particular contest. Why? Well, let me save you the time of reading the official rules. Here’s how it goes down:

1. Through 27 Aug 03, Pepsi draws a total of 1,000 names from entrants who submitted 10-digit codes from Pepsi products to the game Website.
2. Those people are flown (or, if they live nearby, driven) to Orlando, FL. Coach. They get a 2 night hotel stay, single occupancy, and $100 spending money. Oh, yeah, and an appearance on a show “currently anticipated to be broadcast on live television” on the WB 14 Sep 03.
3. Before the show starts, each person selects a distinct six digit number from 000,000 to 999,999. “All numbers selected will be recorded in a digitally signed database.”
4. Pepsi also picks a number, which they call “the Billion Dollar Number.”
5. The person closest to the BDN wins a million bucks. If (s)he guesses it exactly, (s)he also wins $1,000,000,000.
6. The million is paid in full. The billion is paid — here’s the fun part — either as a) $5m/yr for the first 20yr, then $10m/yr for 21-39, then $710m in year 40 or b) a $250m lump sum payment. If you don’t choose (b) within 60 days, you get the “40-Year Payment Schedule.”

So it’s literally a one in a million shot — provided you’re picked to be part of the thousand to begin with. Pepsi’s chance of paying out the $1b is 1 in 1,000. Not that they would, of course. Their insurer will make the payment.

And who better to insure this prize than Warren Buffet’s company?

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2003 at 11:19 am and is filed under Miscellany.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.