Numbers Nigtmare

By TAMALA M. EDWARDS

For months Gina Cruz, a Manila grandmother, played Pepsi-Cola's Numbers Fever promotion lottery, buying several bottles a day and saving the caps, in the hope that one of the numbers printed inside would win her a 1 million peso ($40,000) prize. When the magic number, 349, was announced in May 1992, Cruz was overjoyed to find she had not one but two caps bearing the winning digits. She promptly fainted.

But the biggest shock came when Cruz discovered she had not won anything at all. She and thousands of others were victims of a computer error that generated 800,000 winning numbers instead of 18. The company explained that it simply did not have the $32 billion it would take to pay all claimants and that the real winners would be identified by security codes placed on caps.

The promotion quickly turned into a nightmare. Disgruntled "winners" banded together in protest groups, fanning anti-Pepsi flames at frequent demonstrations and marches. More than 22,000 people holding the 349 number filed 689 civil suits seeking damages, as well as 5,200 criminal complaints alleging fraud and deception.

Pepsi tried to control the damage by offering a 500 peso ($20) "goodwill" prize to all holders of sham 349 caps, and the company paid out $10 million in the process. The appeasement effort may be rendered futile when the cases reach court, especially if the judge agrees with the Philippine Senate Trade Committee, which released a report this month that faults the company for "gross negligence" and "misleading or deceptive advertising."

With reporting by Nelly Sindayen/Manila