The bottle cap snafu that nearly cost Pepsi $32 billion

A printing glitch sparked hundreds of civil suits and thousands of criminal complaints.On the evening of May 25, 1992, a reported 70 per cent of the Philippines population gathered around their television sets.

At that time, the Philippines had a struggling economy and there was widespread poverty. The two Grand Prizes were worth one million pesos each - the equivalent of about $40,000. That was a lot of money in 1992. The average monthly salary of a Filipino family then was $100. A win was perceived to be life-changing.

Then came the big moment. The winning bottle cap in Pepsi's Number Fever was finally revealed. It was number 349. Mass outrage and riots erupted. Boycotts and protesting ensued. Pepsi claimed that only two winning bottle caps had a special security code. Winners shouted that none of the promotional materials said anything about a special security code. Pepsi was forced to put up a barbed-wire fence around their buildings. Homemade bombs were heaved at their bottling plants.

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