I disagree. I think it very much is the same thing. Unless they had other reasons (other than that they didn't want to honor their advertisement).
Both quotes you wrote down seem to quite clearly apply in this Pepsi case.
It doesn't fit the regulatory definition for two key reasons:
(1) the regulatory definition of bait advertising turns on intent at the time of advertising, not decisions which happen later.
(2) the regulatory definition also turns on the intent being not to sell the thing adveritsed; even if the intent in advance is to sell it on different terms, that is not “bait advertising” (it may br prohibited by some other law or rule in some cases.)
> Both quotes you wrote down seem to quite clearly apply in this Pepsi case.
Even if you could construe the ad as an offer to sell anything, it wasn’t an offer to sell one thing to lure people in and sell them something else.
(And, of course, the Court already ruled in the case, in adjudicating a different claim to which the same question was relevant, that it couldn’t be reasonably viewed as an offer at all.)
2) They did indeed not ever intend to sell the thing advertised. So again, what are you talking about?
I dunno man, I guess I just disagree.
And I told you I think they were wrong.
> Even if that wasn't the case, what is the substitute product?
All of the other garbage they sold for Pepsi points...
And the court ruled that no one could reasonably view it as an offer to make the jet available as a reward.
Even if that wasn't the case, what is the substitute product?
> Even if that wasn't the case, what is the substitute product?
All of the other garbage they sold for Pepsi points...
Yes, but electing not to sell a unique item at an advertised price when a concrete offer is received is not the same thing:
---quote---
How does the FTC define "bait and switch" advertising?
It's illegal to advertise a product when the company has no intention of selling that item, but instead plans to sell a consumer something else, usually at a higher price. For more information, ask the FTC for its Guides Against Bait Advertising.
---end quote---
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/adv...
---quote---
Bait advertising is an alluring but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser in truth does not intend or want to sell. Its purpose is to switch consumers from buying the advertised merchandise, in order to sell something else, usually at a higher price or on a basis more advantageous to the advertiser. The primary aim of a bait advertisement is to obtain leads as to persons interested in buying merchandise of the type so advertised.
---end quote---
16 USC § 238.0, https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=69e59fd0c1f4966cfd...