Jun. 21, 2011 - Issue #818: Brian Wilson
Provenance
Six facts about Dr Pepper
The doctor is in
2) Alderton didn't want to pursue the burgeoning business so he gave the drink to Morrison and his business partner Robert Lazenby who re-christened it Dr Pepper.
3) Dr Pepper is marketed as having 23 distinct flavours: Alderton liked the way the drug store's soda fountain smelled with all of the fruit syrups mixing together and tried to mimic it in the drink.4) Questions about the brand name's origin have created several theories. Some believe that the "pep" is from the pepsin—an enzyme that calms upset stomach—that may have been in the original recipe, while others believe that, because Dr Pepper was originally marketed as a brain tonic, the "pep" was the feeling it gave consumers.
5) In 1972, Dr Pepper sued Coca-Cola for copyright infringement after it came out with Peppo which was changed first to Dr Pibb and finally to Mr Pibb. Wal-Mart even came out with its own Dr Pepper knock-off, originally called Southern Lightning but now marketed as Dr Thunder, which claims, "You've never been deep, until you've been Dr Thunder deep."
6) In 2009, a somewhat famous Dr Pepper marketing campaign had well-known fictional doctors claiming, "Trust me. I'm a doctor." The campaign included Dr Dre, Dr J (Julius Erving) and Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris). V
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