I loved the article. It reminded of the Pepsi Points debacle in the Philipines.

The island nation had a huge chunk of the soda market, but Coca Cola had it cornered. Nothing Pepsi did got Philipinos to choose Pepsi over Coke.

Pepsi decided to try a little lotto. They put secret numbers under the caps of the Pepsi bottles. Every night, an announcer called out a combo of three digits for a random prize. One night would be the grand prize — millions of Philipino pesos for a single number.

But they created a catastrophe — the winning number was printed on thousands of bottle caps. All across the country, thousands of people called their family and friends to inform them they were free from crippling poverty. But when they went to claim their prize, they were met with massive crowds being pushed back by angry security guards informing them no one would get their money.

Pepsi panicked. Their CEOs hid from the public. Some enterprising locals tracked down their home addresses and organized crowds to stand outside their homes. Anti-Pepsi marches were held in the streets and any soda big wigs spotted in stores were attacked.

Tons of court cases ensued, but, as with Hoover, things fizzled out and miraculously, Pepsi recovered. But they left a massive mark in their wake.