"It's been a long time I shouldn't have left you / Without a strong rhyme to step to..." - Rakim
First off, it's been three months since I posted here. I've been crazy jumping into my gig at COBY Electronics. It's been non-stop as I have been learning an entirely new industry and traveling across the country getting to know our customers. I am enjoying it.
But enough about me...
Remember when Dr. Pepper promised all of us a free Dr. Pepper if Guns N' Roses ever released Chinese Democracy? Oh, what fun that was! What a fanciful way to promote the brand. Tie it in to an album release that has been eagerly awaited since the early 90s! An album never destined to see the light of day because W. Axl Rose would never ever ever release Chinese Democracy... until he did.
Well now! But, give Dr. Pepper credit. They readied themselves to give away free a Dr. Pepper to all that wanted to take them up on their offer... with some conditions. And then, due to overwhelming response, they pushed back the deadline to accommodate the crushing demand!
And then... Axl's lawyer threw Dr. Pepper under the bus. OUCH! So much for irreverence and being fanciful. And what a great time for any brand to be redeeming millions of free products to consumers who don't have to do ANYTHING (relatively) to get it! What a great time to have the threat of a lawsuit by a completely insane, multi-millionaire recluse! When the economy is completely tanking! UPDATE: And now even the New York Times is reporting on it! the killer quote from one of Axl's many lawyers:
“We had made an effort to turn this into a win-win-win — for the American public, Dr Pepper and Axl,” said Laurie Soriano, one of Mr. Rose’s lawyers. “But Dr Pepper’s view was just that Dr Pepper would win.”
Maybe Dr. Pepper should have stuck to aligning its brand with something a bit more predictable, but no less exciting: like football.
I give thanks for SNAFUs like this; they practically write my blog themselves.
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