Dr. Pepper's Chinese Democracy press release

[jarmo]

No soup for you, next!


I hope it was worth it.

 



/jarmo

[killingvector]

Nice to know the porch light is still on!

I truly hope differences can be settled and the album is unveiled to the public this year. Axl and  the band deserve the fruits of their labors and the fans have been waiting for the earth to crack for a long time.

[freedom78]

This is really strange.  Cool...but strange.

What if album is released only because of Dr. Pepper.  What bench mark does that send?     So every time fans want something, some company pushes a big promotion?  Interesting, could be the future.  I am surprised nobody tried this with a Led Zeppelin Reunion tour. 

I think, if this is due to a REAL connection between the label and Dr. Pepper, rather than simply a random press release, that big music's experimenting with a way to make up lost revenue due to downloading and really, really crappy music (not GNR...just in general).

Something about this seems so fishy though.  Dr. Pepper is not really associated with music to a large degree.  What is in this for Dr. Pepper?  Title sponser of huge tour maybe?  There is something in it for them, but what.  Don't think for one second they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.

They did a commercial with Run DMC a few years back.  Not sure if they released an album around that time or not.

Haha it's the first ever 3-D soda can.  Complete with a flat logo that sticks out on rounded edges!!!  When Dr. Pepper and GNR come together, you better damn well believe that innovation and creativity are going mach three. 

Dude...all soda cans are 3D. 

[Smoking Guns]

This is really strange.  Cool...but strange.

What if album is released only because of Dr. Pepper.  What bench mark does that send?     So every time fans want something, some company pushes a big promotion?  Interesting, could be the future.  I am surprised nobody tried this with a Led Zeppelin Reunion tour. 

I think, if this is due to a REAL connection between the label and Dr. Pepper, rather than simply a random press release, that big music's experimenting with a way to make up lost revenue due to downloading and really, really crappy music (not GNR...just in general).

Something about this seems so fishy though.  Dr. Pepper is not really associated with music to a large degree.  What is in this for Dr. Pepper?  Title sponser of huge tour maybe?  There is something in it for them, but what.  Don't think for one second they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.

They did a commercial with Run DMC a few years back.  Not sure if they released an album around that time or not.

Haha it's the first ever 3-D soda can.  Complete with a flat logo that sticks out on rounded edges!!!  When Dr. Pepper and GNR come together, you better damn well believe that innovation and creativity are going mach three. 

Dude...all soda cans are 3D. 

Freedom, wow, you like my posts.. Ha.  There is a lot more to this that we don't know. So hard to speculate.  Something is up.  But we thought with Harley Davidson too... But this is much different than that.

[SLCPUNK]

Got popcorn?

[gunns1]

Im all positive and for this , as I think it will bring cd closer to us


but axls press statement seems like he has no idea/clue about the dr pepper promotion thing,
Which is weird because, you would think, at the very least, axl would know every single detail about
the promotional campaign of chinese democracy....
So at the same time, just thinking logically, and im not saying its one way or not, but
if axl did have some insight ,and say for hypothetical reasons that Axl knew/the label knew about
this and the whole dr pepper campaign was pre - planned, agreed too, then this means that chinese democracy really
is coming out this year, cause if it doe
snt, not only axl looks bad, but so will dr pepper...
just my thoughts and opinions

someone posted this at another site, and Makes perfect sense...

I can't believe that everyone seems to think GN'R aren't in on this.

Of course Dr. Pepper says GN'R isn't involved and of course GN'R says they aren't involved. The whole promotion is based on the idea that this is a challenge to Axl to release the album and that there isn't anything in it for Mr. Rose other than seeing Dr. Pepper give everyone a free drink. If they admit Axl is involved then you know it's promotion and you know the album is coming. The challenge is over before it even began.

Let's pretend Axl isn't in on it. Think what happens if the album doesn't come out. Dr. Pepper will run with this campaign probably all year (or at least into the fall). It will make people interested in the band and get their hopes up. Then no album. Axl ends up looking bad, Dr. Pepper ends up looking bad, the whole thing just has no payoff. No...if Axl wasn't in on this he wouldn't have issued his release. He'd have issued Cadbury/Schwepps a legal document instead, because he'd be pissed at how this would end up making him look.

And if the album does come out then Dr. Pepper is on the hook for the cost of the free drinks. Yes they can estimate it and yes it won't be as high as 300 million x $0.80 but it will still be an unquantified liability. Why would they open themselves up to this potential hit if they didn't have some sort of payoff negotiated with GN'R? Answer: they wouldn't. They will do something with GN'R, like be the sole drink provider on the tour or something of that nature. Companies don't just open themselves up to uncertain liability, and for what? A cheap bit of media attention for a day or two before the likely event that Axl shoots them down through his lawyers?

Axl's involved, of course he's involved. At the very least the label are, but I don't for one minute think they did this behind his back.

As for Buckethead and Slash...some people said Axl would never allow them being mentioned, or you can't legally withhold a prize from someone. Am I the only one who can see that it was clearly a joke? It's good to see that Axl is fairly good natured about those guys. Gives me some hope for an eventual reunion someday.

And as for whether GN'R should do this...okay, I get the argument that they shouldn't. But in this day and age where people do not buy albums they probably have no choice. Release the album in 2000 and this promotion wouldn't happen. Right, it's not what GN'R stood for, but GN'R means something entirely different today than it used to mean. Well, in my heart GN'R will always be one thing, but in the real world it's not the same band. Hasn't been for more than ten years.

[SLCPUNK]

I think that about sums it up.

[GNR4L]

Guns N Roses will always be my favorite band I don't care if they did a commerical for skittles.  Some people still think its a fake promotion or april fools joke well I don't think Axl would respond to something that is a rumour or a joke.

[Ali]

The thing that I can't figure out is why would Dr. Pepper do this if this was just a joke.  What would a little bit of extra publicity mean to a company like Dr. Pepper?  If it isn't a joke, and there wasn't a distinct possibility the record would be released, then, again, why would Dr. Pepper do this?  A little extra promotion?  A few tidbits on some news sites?  Do they really need that?

Maybe I'm overanalyzing, but I have to think there is something more to this.

Your thoughts.

Ali

[D]

Reading their press release however, it seems a little too positive to be a "Prank" or just a dig at GNR.

[Evolution]

Reading their press release however, it seems a little too positive to be a "Prank" or just a dig at GNR.

Like Mayweather/Show, it's a work!

[ben9785]

Just when you don't expect him, in the most unlikely circumstances, our Axl turns up.

And he sure does have quite a way to say something when he wants to..

Axl I really do hope that free can of Dr Pepper comes to pass for you..

[mrbucketfoot]

Apparently I was wrong. Weird stuff.

It's be sweet to have a new GNR song on a Dr. Pepper commercial, I think it'd be a good form of advertisement on-top of all the other stuff out thats bound to be out there. Oh and that GNR Dr. Pepper can is photoshopped, and horribly done I might add, but it does provide a cool template.

Jarmo can you comment on Dr. Pepper launching a campaign rumor?

[fuckin crazy]

Apparently I was wrong. Weird stuff.

While wrong, it was well reasoned and thought out.

Weird indeed; extraordinarily so.

[Bruno Poeys]

1 - "A change that's bittersweet that's called the blues"
2 - "There was a time"
3 - "Better"
4 - "Madagascar"
5 - "Catcher in the Rye"

THANKS, skyzo.

[elmir]

The thing that I can't figure out is why would Dr. Pepper do this if this was just a joke.  What would a little bit of extra publicity mean to a company like Dr. Pepper?  If it isn't a joke, and there wasn't a distinct possibility the record would be released, then, again, why would Dr. Pepper do this?  A little extra promotion?  A few tidbits on some news sites?  Do they really need that?

Maybe I'm overanalyzing, but I have to think there is something more to this.

Your thoughts.

Ali

because the PR company in charge get paid gazillions every year to come up with innovative and interesting ways of further marketing the product.

and considering the person in charge in the PR company is an Axl Rose obsessive (to put it mildly), it kind of makes perfect sense. His debate/discussion style is fairly convincing, if you ever had the opportunity of getting into one of those with him, so i would guess that he didn't have too hard of a time selling this idea to his client....the beverage company...

that's how they went for it.
if you can sell ice to eskimos or sand to the arabs....which is what i believe kaneda can do....it shouldn't be too much of a mission to sell chinese democracy to Dr. Pepper...

it will create new interest, and bring the brand (together with the album) to "top of mind" status with the general public...and that's the final objective every time you do a promo.

[prairie]

"Not to be an asshole"

but has anyone noticed Axls response is signed "Axl Rose", not "W. Axl Rose" the way he ALWAYS signs?    http://www.gunsnroses.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080326&content_id=a1&vkey=news&fext=.jsp

and there is NO mention of this on Dr. Peppers webesite.   www.drpepper.com

I'm not trying to be negative, just stuff I noticed.  Sorry if it's been mentioned already.

Peace

[TomFriend]

The weird thing about GNR today...you can go months without any news whatsoever, and then when you finally get some, its guaranteed to not be what you expected.

I was just thinking about Dr Pepper's recent advertising slogans. 'So misunderstood', and 'What's the worst that could happen'. You can finish off that thought for me.

[grog mug]

They've always had funny commercials....if Axl doesn't take advantage of this kind of promotion hes stupid.   PUT OUT THE ALBUM AXL...THE WORLD STILL REMEMBERS CHINESE DEMOCRACY!  Even though we thought 2002-2007 would be great times to release it NOW is as good a time as any!!

[sexkitten]

This is the best news EVER!!!!  HELL YEAH!!