2008.11.26 - The New York Times - Dr Pepper and Rocker in a War of Hype

Dr Pepper and Rocker in a War of Hype

By Ben Sisario

It took Axl Rose 14 years to complete the latest Guns N’ Roses album. But it took his lawyers only two days to take Dr Pepper to task for not making good on a promise of free soda to “everyone in America” in celebration.

In March the manufacturer made headlines by saying it would give out cans of its 123-year-old soft drink if the album, “Chinese Democracy,” came out by the end of the year. That was by no means a sure proposition, since Mr. Rose had failed to meet so many deadlines over the years that the album had become the music industry’s most notorious (and expensive) shaggy-dog story.

On Sunday the album was finally released, and Dr Pepper gave fans 24 hours to go to its Web site for a coupon redeemable for a can of soda; so many did that the site crashed, and the deadline was extended to Monday.

“We never thought this day would come,” said Tony Jacobs, a Dr Pepper marketing executive, in a statement last week.

The arrangement irked fans, who took to the Internet with stories of being blocked for hours from the site and a related customer-service phone line. And that irked Mr. Rose.

On Tuesday his lawyers sent a harshly worded letter to the soft drink maker complaining of its “appalling failure to make good on a promise it made to the American public,” and demanding a public apology, more time for thirsty fans, and payment for piggybacking on the “Chinese Democracy” publicity.

When asked about the letter, Dr Pepper said in a statement that the company took “great steps” to accommodate the online requests from consumers.

“This was one of the largest responses we have ever received for a giveaway,” the statement said, “and we’re happy we were able to satisfy the thirst of so many Dr Pepper fans.”

A spokesman said it was not known how many free sodas were given away on Sunday and Monday.

Mr. Rose’s representatives said that they tried to collaborate with Dr Pepper on the best way to distribute the soda, but that negotiations broke down.

“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.”

The music industry had largely given up hope that “Chinese Democracy” would ever come out. Still, many assumed that if it ever was released it would likely be a gigantic seller. Guns N’ Roses, one of the most popular American bands of the last 30 years, has sold more than 40 million albums in the United States alone, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

But anecdotal reports suggest that “Chinese Democracy,” which was released through an exclusive deal with the Best Buy chain, might not be the blockbuster the industry had hoped for. Sales figures will not be available until next week, but early estimates put the first-week total at 300,000 to 500,000 copies, a respectable but not extraordinary amount. Last week, for example, Beyoncé sold 482,000 copies of her latest record, “I Am ... Sasha Fierce.”

The letter from Mr. Rose’s lawyers asks that Dr Pepper run apologetic full-page ads in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and other papers, giving customers more time to receive their free soda.

Similar sentiments spread across Guns N’ Roses message boards on Sunday.

“If they said they’d give a free can to everyone in America,” one fan wrote, “can they really put a one-day time limit on it? Seems like it’s something that if someone took to court they’d win.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/arts/music/27pepp.html