A Unilateral Contract for a Trip to Mars

Image vy ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo

This is the time of year when my students are obsessed with unilateral contracts, and I am beating them back, pointing to R.2d § 32 and R.2d § 45 and showing how easily what looks like an offer to enter into a unilateral contract becomes a bilateral contract or an option.  It is nice to have a clear example of something that is and only can be an offer to enter into a unilateral contract.

In 1958, Burma shave posted signs along highways that read:

Free Free

A trip to Mars

For 900

Empty Jars

Burma Shave

According to this story by John Kelly of the Washington Post, one Arliss French, the manager of a Red Owl store (yes, small world!), took the offer seriously enough to earn a trip.  Frenchy (as he was called -- oh, those Midwestern wags!) put up a huge display in his store and promoted Burma Shave by encouraging customers to send him to Mars.  

As with many plans for trips to Mars, Frenchy's faced obstacles.  Burma Shave was losing market share, and men take a long time to use up their shaving cream.  In addition, Burma Shave learned of his efforts and warned him that it was only offering a one-way trip.  Frenchy was undeterred.  But Burma Shave didn't work itself into a lather.  Instead, it bargained!  Frenchy and his wife were sent to the German border town, Moers, pronounced Mars.  Close enough, Frenchy cried, and Burma Shave threw in the trip home as a show of good faith.  

See, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell, this is how we will get to Mars! Or at least Moers.

H/T: Elizabeth Winston