A misprint made 800,000 Pepsi caps winners — Pepsi refused, and five people died

In February 1992, Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines (PCPPI) launched a sales promotion called Number Fever. Numbers from 001 to 999 were printed inside bottle caps of Pepsi, 7 Up, Mountain Dew, and Mirinda. Certain numbers could be redeemed for prizes ranging from 100 pesos to a grand prize of 1 million pesos. The promotion was a success at first, increasing Pepsi's monthly sales from $10 million to $14 million and its market share from 19.4% to 24.9%.

On May 25, 1992, the evening news program TV Patrol announced that the grand prize number for that day was 349. However, before the promotion was extended to add new winning numbers, 800,000 regular bottle caps had already been printed with the number 349 but without the required security code. Only two legitimate grand prize-winning caps had been manufactured. The fraudulent caps were cumulatively worth US$32 billion.

Pepsi initially refused to honor the 800,000 caps, stating they lacked the confirmation security code. After an emergency meeting, the company offered 500 pesos ($18) to each holder of a mistakenly printed cap as a gesture of goodwill. This offer was accepted by 486,170 people, costing PepsiCo US$8.9 million. Many irate holders refused the settlement and formed the 349 Alliance, organizing boycotts and rallies.

The protests turned violent. In February 1993, a homemade bomb was thrown at a Pepsi truck in Manila, killing a schoolteacher and a five-year-old child. In May 1993, three PCPPI employees in Davao were killed by a grenade thrown into a warehouse. Pepsi executives received death threats, and as many as 37 company trucks were overturned, stoned, or burned. About 22,000 people filed lawsuits, including 689 civil suits and 5,200 criminal complaints.