Axl Rose’s Lawyers Call Dr. Pepper Promotion An "Appalling Failure".
November 28, 2008 by Scott
The law offices of Alan S. Gutman, representing Axl Rose and Guns N’ Roses sent a letter to Dr. Pepper this past week. The letter calls their attempt to make good on their promise to give a free Dr. Pepper to everyone in America if Chinese Democracy was released an “appalling failure“. Blabbermouth.net acquired a copy of the 3 page letter in which the lawyers say:
After it became clear that Chinese Democracy would be released in 2008, Dr. Pepper executive Tony Jacobs proudly proclaimed that Dr. Pepper would make good on it’s promise to give a free soda to everyone in America. It turned out that Dr. Pepper did not define “everyone in America” the same way as “everyone in America” defined “everyone in America”. In a cynical attempt to mitigate exposure, Dr. Pepper quickly erected numerous barriers to redemption; to get a free soda, everyone had 24 hours to go to drpepper.com on Sunday, November 23, which meant that the soda was only free to those Americans who heard about the redemption plan in time and had access to a computer on November 23. Further, what happened on November 23 was a complete fiasco. In what could only be characterized as reckless indifference or complete stupidity.
There is a lot more to this letter that you can read here. The lawyer also goes on to demand that Dr. Pepper extend the redemption, publish an apology in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today, as well as going on to say that they will be expected to contact the law offices to discuss payment to their client (Guns N’ Roses) for “unauthorized use and abuse of publicity and intellectual property rights“.
So what was Dr. Pepper Executive Tony Jacobs response? He told The New York Times: “We never thought this day would come,” and “This was one of the largest responses we have ever received for a giveaway,”, “and we’re happy we were able to satisfy the thirst of so many Dr Pepper fans.”
So they were happy to satisfy the thirst of “so many Dr. Pepper fans”, but that’s not “everyone in America”. I said the other day that it’s only a can of soda but I can totally understand everyone’s anger but mostly on the part of Guns N’ Roses. Whether Chinese Democracy is a ground breaking album or not is irrelevant. Dr. Pepper used the Guns N’ Roses name and made a pretty far out promise that has come back to bite them in the ass…right around the wallet area to be exact.
Image Source: Nescom.com
bight – bite
yeah…I add a touch or stupidity to every post. Thanks. I had to reread to find it, but laughed when I did.
Fuckin’ aye that’s right.
It was a huge failure.
I couldn’t connect to the site to get my Dr. Pepper,
it seems like a low attempt to give out less Dr. Peppers to the public.
Surprisingly, I actually got my coupon in the mail today. I was shocked, because when I filled out the form all I saw was code lines and random error screens, so I figured it was hopeless. Regardless, just getting to that point took me like an hour. It was a ridiculous idea, and I’m sure it was on purpose. Dr. Pepper knew that the website would be too slow to actually fulfill their promise.
Let’s all of us just go out, buy a can of Dr. Pepper, and use it to pelt Axl Rose to death. Seriously, fuck that guy. Let’s kill him with Dr. Pepper.
Seriously, it’s just a god damn soda!!! How much do these things cost? $1.25? Geez people. I’m sure to some it’s about the fact of the matter, and for Axl and his lawyers it’s about their reputation, but how can the average joe be upset about something like this. Lame.
“The letter calls their attempt … an “appalling failure“.”
Pot
Kettle
Black