What exactly is Dr. Pepper doing?

Dr. Pepper claims to have a unique, bold taste. They also have a pretty unique and bold advertising strategy - one that often doesn't make much sense. From commercials where everyone claims to be unique despite wearing the same shirt to a product - Dr. Pepper 10 - that specifically ignores females, it's pretty clear Dr. Pepper has no idea what they're doing.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=02vku-6fZWQ?rel=0

Let's start with those ridiculous red shirts. Here Dr. Pepper uses the slogan "One of a Kind", implying that when you drink the widely popular and widely distributed soft drink that you're doing something unique. They try to drive this message home by showing random people wearing red shirts, each with a message printed on them that tells the viewer why they're unique. 

It's a shame Dr. Pepper wasn't trying to be ironic here because the irony in the spot above is rich. What better way to demonstrate how unique you are by wearing the exact same type of shirt as hundreds of people around you. Makes perfect sense. 

Then there's Dr. Pepper's bizarre attempt to convince women not to drink their Dr. Pepper 10 product. 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3iuG1OpnHP8?rel=0

Let's cut our sales in half! Brilliant! Barring the idea that Dr. Pepper is trying to do some reverse psychology, why would they want to directly call out women in these advertisements? It's understandable creating a product that's designed to be a manly drink, but by saying specifically "It's not for women" in your ad you're probably burning more bridges than you're creating. 

These two campaigns leave us with just one question - What are you doing Dr. Pepper?

David Rogers

About David Rogers

Managing Editor of the NHL blog Puck Drunk Love, the St. Louis Blues blog Frozen Notes and Awful Advertisements, a blog on ...awful advertisements. Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing.

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