a mystery rebate program, offering reimbursements of between $3 and $1,000; one Boston Globe writer dubbed it "the Bill Cosby rebate model." J. Fred Bucy, who was head of Texas Instruments' home computer operation in 1983, scrapped Cosby's advertisements to focus on the product's educational value. Radio Shack vice-president of marketing David Beckerman said, "A celebrity draws attention to the product. Even if we had President Reagan on our ads, we wouldn't sell any more computers. A product sells itself. A celebrity causes indirect sales." Cosby, along with entrepreneur James Bruce Llewellyn, bought stock in a Philadelphia Coca-Cola bottler in 1983 as part of the company's push to increase African American participation in the company. This was, in part, a response to pressure by Jesse Jackson's PUSH campaign. At the height of the Cola Wars, marketer Sergio Zyman persuaded Coca-Cola executives to create and air commercials with Cosby praising Coke for being less sweet than Pepsi, which was aired only in areas where sales of Pepsi were dominant. One commercial from the series features Cosby "rubberfacing an icky frown" and describing Pepsi as "gooey". These advertisements were broadcast from October 1984; Coca-Cola's independently owned bottlers demanded the commercials were run in their markets as well. Zyman said despite the upcoming contradiction, the ads were the first boost to Coke's image in years. Coca-Cola was simultaneously testing possible new variations of its soft drink and decided it would sell more product if it used a sweeter formula. Once New Coke was launched, Pepsi prepared its public response to the change; among its talking points for journalists writing about New Coke was to "Ask them about those Bill Cosby ads". One of a new series of Coke advertisements showed Cosby dressed in a toga; this campaign was described as unconvincing. Coca-Cola faced a widespread public backlash, internal dissent, and ultimately the original drink recipe returned as "Coca-Cola Classic". In the days following the reversal, an editorial cartoon featured Cosby pouring a can of Pepsi into a can of Coke. Marcio Moreira, a McCann Erickson creative executive behind the New Coke introduction, said in 2011 that the decision to hire Cosby was not made until other commercials were being edited. The Cosby Show debuted in 1984, becoming "TV's biggest hit in the 1980s" and reviving both the sitcom genre and NBC. Before the series premiere, Cosby told reporters his income from commercials for