Absolutely crazy!!  Any Americans here not like Dr Pepper?  If the album comes out this year, send your can to me... I'll give it a good home.

The bigger news of course, is confirmation from Axl himself that Buckethead will still be on the album.  That's huge!!

At the same time, I'm not sure if the promotion is positive toward the band as it's poking fun at the saga.  Dr Pepper is so willing to bet that CD will not come out this year that they're offering free products to everyone nationwide (which would devastate the company) if they lose.  I wouldn't bet on that free drink just yet.

On the contrary, this is a very good thing.  Now's the time for the band and label to partner up with the Dr Pepper people to promote the hell out of the thing this year.  Every copy comes with that "Free Dr Pepper" coupon.  Stick a Dr Pepper sticker on the packaging... that's endorsement.  Lots of royalty money for the label, whether or not the album sells.  Further, this nationwide campaign from Dr Pepper would give the band and the record a shitload of promotion, especially if Dr Pepper's campaign says something along the "We were wrong, CD came out this year... get your copy now!" lines.  That's certainly free publicity and shoving it in everyone's face.

Meanwhile, if Dr Pepper sends out the free sample to everyone in America, while there would be initial costs, it would certainly expose the product to a lot of people who have never tried it before.  Certainly, a percentage of these individuals will enjoy the taste and become Dr Pepper regulars, leading to profits for the company.

Holy hell, this might actually allow the album to finally see the light of day after all.

Either that, or it's all an April Fool's joke from the Dr Pepper people...