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Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

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Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#181

Post by smabie »

azinman2 wrote: post #134
danso wrote: post #92

The Mental Floss writeup from 2018 has actual details: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/558202/pepsi-number-feve... > To determine winning numbers, Pepsi recruited D.G. Consultores, a marketing firm based in Mexico. The numbers were generated via computer, then secured in a safe deposit box in Manila. From there, the list would be used to “seed” bottle caps in the bottling plants. Each night, the company would ann…

10M is nothing to Pepsi with a market cap of 178B. If they're going to put something out as a token, they could have easily 10-20x'd that and had a much more meaningful payout.

Why should Pepsi have spent 100 to 200mm giving people money? Like, that's clearly the wrong decision. People still would have been angry and not bought Pepsi.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#182

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

stickfigure wrote: post #55
capableweb wrote: post #4

Interesting story, but the clickbait headline is not needed here. Story ends with: > At the end of everything, Pepsi’s total combined losses, between physical, legal, and brand equity costs, would top $20M. Their market share would plummet and take years to rebound. The "$32 billion" seems to come from the amount of bottles who would win the prize, but Pepsi didn't actually pay out the promised amount, so it didn't c…

This critique is unnecessarily pedantic. If I issue you a $200 check and (through whatever error) it ends up being written for $200,000,000, we would fairly call it a "$200MM typo" despite the fact that it would bounce. The headline delivered exactly the story it promised. I was surprised I had never heard about it before.

No, we wouldn't, exactly due to the known outcome.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#183

Post by imtringued »

Udik wrote: post #171
netsharc wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No you can't multiply it by a number and say it's comparable... If I don't win 40 million, I'll still have a warm apartment, a well paid job, a car, electronic toys, and a vague plan of a leisure trip to Iceland after this whole pandemic blows over. Once in a while I'll say "Fuck, at one point I thought I was a multi-millionaire, but it was a mistake!", and I'd be able to distract myself by, I don't know, playing Xbo…

Yeah, ok. So what did they want? Pepsi Cola paying $40k to every person in the country? Really?

There is no way to make them happy. Pepsi clearly didn't have $32B. The only conclusion you can make from this situation is that these people clearly didn't want to be happy.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#184

Post by jimmydorry »

nate_meurer wrote: post #155
snowwrestler wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are two ways to approach thinking about dramatic acts like self-immolation, rioting, looting, stealing, etc. One way is to think "wow, those people have had very different experiences from me, to drive them to do that." I'd put your reply in that category and I prefer this. It recognizes shared commonality among people, which is a good place to start for constructive change. The other way is to think "w…

I really agree with you here, except for your inclusion of looters in that group. You're goddamn right opportunistic looters are nothing like me. Those fuckers care nothing about the fight of the protests, and are willing to tarnish the whole movement for some free shit. Fuck them. Otherwise, right on. I can't tell you how often I come to dead ends in arguments regarding poverty and crime, where folks who've never be…

In this post alone, there are people saying that looting is justified... For every person saying that the looters are unrelated, there is another person or two that either condones that behaviour or justifies it.

Either we have looters in this thread, or the movement is a big umbrella that encompasses the unsavourable elements too.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#185

Post by minusSeven »

smabie wrote: post #181
azinman2 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10M is nothing to Pepsi with a market cap of 178B. If they're going to put something out as a token, they could have easily 10-20x'd that and had a much more meaningful payout.

Why should Pepsi have spent 100 to 200mm giving people money? Like, that's clearly the wrong decision. People still would have been angry and not bought Pepsi.

Well some would argue that it is Pepsi who were giving lottery so any mistake on their part should be on them. Like if you mistakenly deposit 1 million dollar into my account I don't owe you shit and I shouldn't be asked to repay it back legally.

Here off course it depends on the laws of that country. For instance Philippines could certainly have said its your mistake so you owe people money instead. They would have then taken higher steps than that if the company failed to pay back like canceling passports of foreign employees and extradition of executives.

Off course this is all hypothetical but there should be laws that hold companies responsible for their own mistakes.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#186

Post by koheripbal »

dragonwriter wrote: post #164
koheripbal wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This "somebody somewhere" comparison is callous and dismissive. These are billions of people that live under horrid conditions of tyranny and/or abject poverty. Hundreds of millions of people lived through the Arab Spring - not "somebody somewhere". Many of them watched their country descend in unprecedented violence that cannot be compared to tear gas and pepper spray. To them, those are indeed first world problems.…

> These are major HUGE segments of the world population that lived If it was literally every other person in human history other than those in the present day United States... ...it still wouldn't have any bearing on discussion of the injustices in the United States. It's nothing more than an irrelevant distraction technique. (And while it's a valid example of the general issue, no one before you raised immediate iss…

> ...it still wouldn't have any bearing on discussion of the injustices in the United States.

Of course it would. Because our resources for charity and good will should not be solely given to Americans. There are far far more needy people outside America.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#187

Post by jimmygraham »

minusSeven wrote: post #185
smabie wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should Pepsi have spent 100 to 200mm giving people money? Like, that's clearly the wrong decision. People still would have been angry and not bought Pepsi.

Well some would argue that it is Pepsi who were giving lottery so any mistake on their part should be on them. Like if you mistakenly deposit 1 million dollar into my account I don't owe you shit and I shouldn't be asked to repay it back legally. Here off course it depends on the laws of that country. For instance Philippines could certainly have said its your mistake so you owe people money instead. They would have…

Wait, are you saying that you shouldn't have to pay back money accidentally delivered to you? Or is that an argument that a hypothetical person would make?

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#188

Post by cecja »

austincheney wrote: post #105

Having lived for some time in a third world country that has real poverty and real day to day security worries, situations like this spring to mind when people completely without optics compare their situations to those in developing nations. Yes, as insanely ignorant as that sounds it happens. People here on HN last week, as one example, were trying to compare their experiences recently protesting to the Arab Spring…

Gatekeeping poverty, even for hackernews that's a new low.

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#189

Post by JohnClark1337 »

Avicebron wrote: post #156
kiliancs wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a theory that distribution of power in democracies leads to "distribution of blame". I think there's some truth to this, but I think this eventually results in widespread cynicism, skepticism and loss of trust towards any sort of institution (aka "the system") in general --including science and religion--, which is a perfect environment for fake news and conspiracy theories. Long term it leads to chaos and u…

I think that you are correct that in the long term it leads to chaos and unrest, but I think it also has a slow burn problem that ultimately leads to deep ennui, cynicism, and a feeling of powerlessness that can last many generations. This has the effect of further concentrating power in those who have rigged the system and leads to such an unbalance that maybe when the chaos comes, it won't lead to anything better.…

Robespierre knew what he was doing

Re: Pepsi’s $32B Typo Caused Deadly Riots

#190

Post by netsharc »

Udik wrote: post #171
netsharc wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No you can't multiply it by a number and say it's comparable... If I don't win 40 million, I'll still have a warm apartment, a well paid job, a car, electronic toys, and a vague plan of a leisure trip to Iceland after this whole pandemic blows over. Once in a while I'll say "Fuck, at one point I thought I was a multi-millionaire, but it was a mistake!", and I'd be able to distract myself by, I don't know, playing Xbo…

Yeah, ok. So what did they want? Pepsi Cola paying $40k to every person in the country? Really?

I'm sorry they weren't all clear-headed zen monks who could accept the loss of their presumed liberation from poverty (in some minds maybe even a return to poverty?) without releasing any anger.

If only the whole world was like you right, I'd bet it'd be an easier to place to govern, right?

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