The lawyer for Guns N' Roses and Axl Rose has castigated Dr Pepper,
accusing the soda maker of failing to deliver on its promotion to
offer free soda in celebration of the band's new album, "Chinese
Democracy." Guns N' Roses was never involved in the campaign.
Beverly Hills-based Alan Gutman has written to Dr Pepper Snapple
Group Inc. president and CEO Larry Young, accusing the company of
operating an online redemption scheme that was an "unmitigated
disaster which defrauded customers." Gutman is demanding that Dr
Pepper makes good on its offer by extending the period for the
offer; he also wants full-page apologies in the New York Times, Los
Angeles Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.
Gutman's letter makes clear his view that the original campaign was
an "exploitation of my clients' legendary reputation and their
eagerly awaited album" and "brazenly violated our clients' rights."
He is also seeking an "appropriate payment ... for the unauthorized
use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights,"
with the threat of further action if an acceptable offer is not
made.
"Now is the time to clean up the mess," says Gutman.
Rose did not take any action when, in March, Dr Pepper put out a
press release offering free soda to any American if the
long-awaited Guns N' Roses album came out before the end of 2008.
However, Rose has reacted to the news that fans have been unable to
get their soda following the Nov. 23 release of "Chinese
Democracy."
Dr Pepper's Web servers crashed under the demand for coupons that
could be exchanged for free drinks. Dr Pepper extended the Nov. 23
promotion for an extra day, but the company's Web site was
inaccessible for a substantial part of it. "Dr Pepper was
completely unprepared for the traffic to its site," says Gutman in
the letter, describing the promotion as a "complete fiasco."
Gutman adds: "The entire point of your campaign has been to use
public interest in Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses as a lure to increase
consumer awareness of Dr Pepper." He further states that "mocking
undertones" in the online promotional content represent a "raw and
damaging commercial exploitation of our clients' rights," adding
that the association is "even more damaging in light of your shoddy
execution of your disingenuous giveaway offer."
The soda maker declined to comment. Dr Pepper was considering
extending the promotion, according to a source close to the
situation.
