WEBVTT - PTG Classic: What Flavor Is Dr Pepper? 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.559 You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:12.640 and iHeartRadio. Guess what will? 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:13.600 What's that Mango? 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.919 So I was looking up TikTok trends and I ended 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:18.759 up on this channel from Mississippi. 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:19.160 Mema. 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:20.320 Do you do you know her? 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:22.479 So? You think because I live in the South, I 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:23.720 know just all the mems. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:28.400 I guess No, I just thought you might know the channel. Also, 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.000 she has a great accent, so you should know her. 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.120 But in the video, she pulls up to a Sonic 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.800 and she orders a doctor pepper with pickles, which apparently 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.400 is the drink of the Summer. It's called a pickled 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:41.519 doctor pepper. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.360 The drink of the summer. Is like this, is this 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.040 an official drink at Sonic? 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.239 I mean, I don't think it's official. I think it's 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:50.560 more like a secret menu item. You know, it gets 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.480 requested enough that the woman who took the order wasn't 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:54.960 surprised by it at all. 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.480 So what is in it? You said? It's called a 0:00:58.640 --> 0:00:59.800 pickled doctor pepper? 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.480 Mm hm, Yeah, it's really complicated to make. Basically, you 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.080 take it a giant doctor pepper, you put ice in it, 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.160 and then you add five or six pickle slices or 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.760 some pickle juice and that's it, and people go crazy 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:12.160 for it. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.600 Oh man. I mean, I know about the kool Aid pickles, 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.240 and I'm obviously a Doctor Pepper fan. It's a good drink, 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.560 but I don't know anyone who's drinking pickled peppers. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.560 This is new to me, well me either, but I 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:27.440 knew I had to try it. So I went out 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.080 and I bought a Doctor Pepper, And honestly, it felt 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.200 too ridiculous to like slice up a pickle and put 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.600 it inside, So I just ate a few bites of 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.880 a pickle and then I washed it down with a 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:38.759 doctor Pepper. 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.640 Oh man, this is a real experiment. You are dedicated 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:43.560 to the job, and so what what did it tastes like? 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:45.800 It tastes like you're eating a pickle and washing it 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:46.760 down with doctor Pepper. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.000 Oh oh that's big. 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.400 Okay, all right, it did not change my life, but 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.760 you know, it is the drink of the summer. Also, 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.000 I wanted to celebrate Doctor Pepper because they've had a 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.200 great year. Do you know that Doctor Pepper just tied 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.480 Pepsi to be the second best selling soda in America? 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.200 Oh wow, that is huge. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:05.880 Yeah, I know, I feel like we should be high 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.560 fiving over it. But Coke is still firmly in first place. 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.400 But according to The Wall Street Journal and Fox, part 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.760 of the reason is because Doctor Pepper keeps experimenting with 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.880 new flavors, all of which appeal to gen Z. Plus, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.840 this pickled Dr Pepper trend has apparently been contributing to 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.520 their popularity. Anyway, That's just the first of nine strange 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.080 facts everyone should know about Dr Pepper. 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:41.200 Let's dive in. 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.240 Hey their podcast listeners, Welcome to part time Genius. I'm 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.360 Will and as always I'm here with my good pal 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:56.880 Mango and sitting there behind that big booth. I know 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.440 everyone's curious what he's doing today because he's always up 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.880 to something interesting. But it's our good friend Dylan. He's 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.480 not in a great mood that he's actually angrily waving 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.000 a picket sign and it says, oh, I'm trying to read. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.880 It says no Pepper, no period, look at him, go Mango. 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:13.000 It's just it's just wild. 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:15.280 Yeah. I actually talked to him before the show and 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.640 he said, as someone who's really passionate about grammar, he's 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.440 protesting Doctor Pepper until they put the period back in 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.720 the name. I guess the doctor in the soda used 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:26.720 to have a period after the R until the nineteen 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.519 fifties and then they're with the fun It looked weird, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.080 and so you know, I'm not going to join Dylan's 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.800 grammar protest, but I do agree with him in spirit. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.440 Yeah, yeah, I mean he's always right when you think 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.360 about it. Well, speaking of the doctor, why don't we 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.880 talk a little bit about the doctor in Doctor Pepper? 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.520 Like it's always been kind of a mystery who this 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.520 Doctor Pepper is? And Doctor Pepper is actually one of 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:54.160 America's oldest sodas, first formulated in eighteen eighty five. It's 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.960 a year older than coke, eight years older than Pepsi, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:01.320 and practically speaking, it's from Waco Tech Now. According to 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.320 the Doctor Pepper Museum in Waco, it was invented by 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:07.760 a pharmacist named Charles Alderton, and in fact, in the 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:09.920 early years of the drink, people used to call the 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.640 drink a Waco, which is kind of fun, and they 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.760 call for the drink at the counter by saying, shoot 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.120 me a Waco. But according to some its real origins 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.640 are actually from Virginia. The way Texas Monthly tells it 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.240 a young drugstore clerk perfected a tasty formula of twenty 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.520 plus ingredients that you could add to soda water, and 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.560 then sold it to a chemist on one condition that 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.080 he would name the beverage after the clerk's father in law. Now, 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.559 this was a physician named doctor Pepper, so he takes 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.719 the drink with him to Texas starts this soda empire. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.000 Now all of this is a little apocryphal, but what 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.799 we do know is that, like most of these early sodas, 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.359 doctor Pepper was originally sold as a curel, which is 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.280 likely why they added doctor to the title of the drink. 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.080 But by nineteen seventy three, the CEO of Doctor Pepper 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.840 was clarifying that quote, A spoonful of doctor Pepper will 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:07.600 not relieve constipation, hives, excessive acidity, morbidity, sterility, bile, eczema, hysteria, bronchitis, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.239 or what ails you in general. And while folks still 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.640 splash it on and some rub it on, I guess 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.159 the only claim we make is that doctor Pepper is 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.440 soothing to youngsters suffering post Ton selectomies. So that's what 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.599 he clarified, didn't do any of the other stuff, but 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.080 it will help youngsters suffering from post Ton selectomies. So 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:27.960 there you have it, mango. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.839 I love the idea of people rubbing Doctor Pepper on 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.360 like it's a colone. Just lastly, hearing this smell kind 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.000 of good. I wonder why it was so important to 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.080 the kid that the drink being named for his father 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:39.839 in law, though. 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:41.800 You know, of course, like so many of these stories, 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.279 there's a lot of lore behind it. But another claim 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.320 is that the doctor is doctor Charles T. Pepper, who 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.680 is a Confederate physician. It's hard to tell what's true though, 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.920 Like supposedly, the Doctor Pepper Museum has like a dozen 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.359 different origin stories that they've tried to fact check. Not 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:58.960 a whole lot of luck so far, though. 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:01.800 Well, I know one of the things that Doctor Pepper 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.120 has always pried itself on is the fact that it's 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.919 an original flavor, right that no one knows what the 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.360 twenty three ingredients are, et cetera. And I always laugh 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.640 looking at those lists of Doctor Pepper knockoffs, like the 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.400 Soda Lover's wiki has one hundred different budget variations, from 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.880 Doctor Shasta to Doctor Bob, Doctor Topper, doctor Good Guy, 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:28.320 Doctor Gulpster, Doctor Sparkles, Doctor Wham, Doctor Slam, Doctor A Plus, 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:30.480 and Professor fizz I, Like you just. 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:32.000 Make it a few of these out, but that's a 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:32.839 fun list. 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.159 Just scratching the surface here. And there's some misters on 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:38.840 there as well, because some of the sodas didn't make 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.640 it through grad school, which does make me wonder about 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:42.840 the origins of mister. 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.160 Pib and so so what did you learn? 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.760 Basically that sodas were very much a regional delicacy for 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.240 a very long time. So aside from Coke and Pepsi, 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.039 who are bottling their product nationally, you have things like 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.400 Werners from Michigan or Moxie, which is from Maine, right, 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:00.160 and Doctor Pepper was really considered a Southern drink. When 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.000 Doctor Pepper started making a push to go wider, Coke 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.240 was threatened, so they decided to introduce a competitor, and 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.360 they tried a few times. According to Texas Monthly, Coke 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.680 did some small scale tests of two drinks in the 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.640 nineteen sixties. One was called Texas Stepper and another one 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.800 was called Chime. But in nineteen seventy two they rolled 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.800 out a drink called Peppo which obviously was a little 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.760 close in name to Dr Pepper, So Dr Pepper sued them, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.640 and then they changed the name to Mister PIB. But 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.880 what's really funny is that this entire time, Coke denied 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.080 that they were trying to make a Doctor Pepper knock off. 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:37.520 Like a Coke spokesperson told Texas Monthly quote, I haven't 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.360 tasted Dr Pepper myself, so I wouldn't know how similar 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:43.040 it is to mister Pip. He goes on. I don't 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.240 think it was meant to compete with Doctor Pepper as 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.160 far as I know, Coke just felt there was a 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:52.040 market for this kind of soft drink. It's ludicrous, especially 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.600 knowing the name change. But the other part that's really 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.600 funny is that Texas Monthly looked a little closer and 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.720 found that even though mister PIB had no relation to 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.200 Doctor Pepper, and even though Coke wasn't trying to imitate 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.200 the flavors, the places where they decided to test market 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.120 Mister PIB were Waco, Texas, which is the birthplace of 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.040 Doctor Pepper, and the other towns in the South that 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.880 were strongholds of Dr Pepper. Yeah, yeah, it's super coincidence. 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.760 But there's actually one other funny thing about the cover up. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.360 When mister pib first debuted, the color was brown, but 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.920 Coca Cola quickly changed it to red, and according to mash, 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.120 it's because Quote Coke was worried people would think it 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.040 was a Rupier rip off instead of a Dr Pepper ripper. 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.360 Ah, I see, yeah. 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.400 Which is so funny to me. But what do you 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.000 wanna what do you wanna talk about next? 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.200 All right, well, all your talk of pickled Doctor Pepper 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.000 made me think about the original Doctor Pepper hack, which 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.400 was to heat it up on the stove. Have you 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:48.960 heard about this? 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.160 Yeah? Nothing like a piping hot Doctor Pepper on a 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.760 hot day. But uh, do you know how how that 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:56.680 hack got started? 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.599 Apparently this goes right to the top, like like the 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.640 drink was invented by Doctor Pepper's former company president, this 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.000 guy Wesby R. Parker, who was irritated that his sales 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.559 basically dropped to zero in the winter, so he was 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:11.160 trying to figure out what to do with this. This 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.839 was back in the nineteen fifties, so Parker started experimenting 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.400 with different variations at home, just trying to make a 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:20.400 winter mocktail. Of sorts, and he realized that when you 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.320 heated doctor Pepper on a stovetop, it actually retained its flavor, 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.880 and if you added a slice of lemon to it, 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.040 it was really delicious. Now, the funny thing is Parker 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.640 actually did a comparison and warmed up a bunch of 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.040 different sodas, and his belief was that because Doctor Pepper 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.520 was made with natural fruit flavors instead of artificial ones, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.240 he'd actually retained the flavor in a way that other 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.640 sodas didn't. Anyway, the company started pushing the drink, and 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.240 for a while, hot Doctor Pepper was served at the 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.040 Cotton Bowl and other Southern regional football games in the winter. 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:53.760 I'd not heard about this before. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.800 Yeah, I'd never seen that. It's also kind of funny 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:01.480 that all the variations are like pickle. Doctor Pepper tastes 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.600 like doctor Pepper with pickle, he did, Doctor Pepper still 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:05.640 tastes like Doctor Pepper. 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.840 Just hot. Yeah, it's just just hot doctor Pepper. But 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:10.880 you know, the company really tried to make it a 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.559 thing for a while, and they pushed it the holidays 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.280 as kind of a warm punch. And the next president 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:18.040 of the company said he used to have it in 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.240 place of coffee. Even told journalists that he'd have three 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.960 or four hot doctor Peppers in the morning and then 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.439 a bunch of cold ones in the afternoon, but obviously 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:27.680 it never really took off. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.080 Yeah, but I also kind of want to try that same. 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:34.920 We should do another episode where we just test all 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.360 these sodas from Like, I feel like there's so many 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:41.520 hacks online from like coke with peanuts. That's a Doctor pepperoni, 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.760 which is doctor Pepper with pepperoni. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.679 In it, like Doctor Pepper with a screamer. 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:51.480 Oh, it's gonna be terrible. I really can't wait. Also, 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.280 I didn't mention this, but earlier when I had that 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.000 Doctor Pepper, like, I'd eaten the pickle separately, and then 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.360 I just left the Doctor Pepper in the bottle on 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.920 the counter, and Henry walks over and he puts some 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.680 mentos in it, and then down's the rest of it. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:06.640 It's like, why can't you just drink the Doctor Pepper? 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.400 Yes, seriously, come on, Henry, that's a different drink you're 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:11.240 supposed to do with. 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.599 So what fact do you want to run with next? 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.400 Here's a fun one. The Dallas NBC station went to 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.560 the Doctor Pepper Lab to see if they could get 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.959 some tips on what those twenty three flavors and Doctor 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.560 Pepper are, and of course they didn't have any luck. 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:27.600 They were told the formula has been a secret since 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.360 eighteen eighty five and that it's kept under lock and 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.720 kena safe for sometimes even talked about being in two saves, 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.000 with half the Recipian one and half the Rusipi another. 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:38.560 But one thing they did find out is that when 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.720 new flavors are sampled at the Doctor Pepper Labs, they're 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.760 all done under a blue light so that the tasters 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.400 can't see the color of the beverage. Apparently the color 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:48.920 of a drink can have a real impact on the 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.280 way you perceive a drink, and the blue light keeps 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:52.520 tasters honest. 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.720 Which is great, But do you know what any of 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.200 those twenty three flavors are? Like, I'm actually pretty curious 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:57.840 about this now. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:11:58.600 Yeah. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:00.720 I look that up as well, and there's a whole 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.360 community of super fans online who've tried to figure it out. 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:10.000 And according to Mashed, people think the main flavors are amaretto, almond, BlackBerry, 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:18.640 black licorice, caramel, carrot, clove, cherry, ginger, juniper, lemon, molasses, nutmeg, orange, plum, pepper, 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:24.520 root beer, rum, raspberry, vanilla, and most surprising to me, tomato. 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.520 Incredibly Yeah, I guess if you blend all those things 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.920 up and you add some seltzer, you've got a house 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.600 formula for your own. Doctor Will or mister Will or 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.160 whatever you want to call it. But one thing that 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.480 Doctor Pepper is adamant about, and they say this all 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.760 over the place, is that there are no prunes in 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:46.000 Doctor Pepper. According to Doctor Pepper's faq online. They've got 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.720 a question, does Doctor Pepper contain prune juice? The answer 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.720 is no, Doctor Pepper does not contain prune juice. 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.160 That is that is very good to know. I will 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.040 put fewer prunes and more tomatoes in my homemade Doctor 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.719 Pepper from now on. But we'll got a few more 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.200 facts to go. But why don't we take a quick 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:03.120 break first. 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.640 Welcome back to part time genius. When we're talking all 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.839 things Doctor Pepper. So Will, where do you want to 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:24.440 take it from here? 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.640 All right, we've only got a few facts left. So 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.360 you know, one of the things that's always interesting to 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.240 me is the advertising over the years for all sorts 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.280 of products, but especially sodas and foods and drinks like this. 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.760 So in the early years they advertised Doctor Pepper for 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.160 quote them vigor and vitality. You see what they did 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.000 that did alliteration there, and they called it liquid Sunlight. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.800 But according to The Daily Meal, in the nineteen twenties, 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.880 there was a study from Columbia University that showed that 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.400 blood sugar tends to dip at ten am, two pm, 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.840 and four pm. So Doctor Pepper decided to capitalize on 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.800 this with the slogan drink a bite to eat at 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.000 ten two and four. I had to read that a 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.440 couple of times because just drink drink a bite to 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.640 eat at ten two and four. And basically they were 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.800 pitching Doctor Pepper as three tiny square meals to give 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.880 you this kick of sugar between your bigger square meals. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.560 And I guess according to The Daily Meal, the ads 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.640 worked because wartime laborers kind of thought of it as 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.760 their like their red bull or something, and so later 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.480 in the fifties they continued that marketing line with the 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:32.600 phrase the friendly Pepper Upper. These are all such confusing phrases, 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.280 and it was actually used on Dick Clark's bandstand But 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.160 back to the whole drink a bite to eat thing 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.920 for a second. Oddly, that ad is the only time 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.440 Doctor Pepper decided to use a doctor mascot to sell 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.240 the brand. They supposedly wanted to use a picture of 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:51.000 a typical country doctor, but the cartoon image is of 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.680 this guy with like this top hat and these glasses 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.160 and a glass soda bottle. He kind of looks like 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.360 like a human version of mister Peanut. And for some reason, 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.920 under him there's a second slogan that reads join the club, 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.479 which is a little more clear, Like it's not very exciting, 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.080 but just like you know what they mean by that. 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.120 At least, I feel like they're so good at mixing 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.040 wrong ingredients and so bad at mixing wrong words. 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:19.080 Yeah, yeah, yeah, Pepper the bite me so. Yeah, it's 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:20.600 really good stuff. 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.840 Yeah, it's not all confusing. But one thing I hadn't 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.120 realized is how important it's been to Doctor Pepper's growth 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.360 that the drink is not a cola. So, as we've 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.200 mentioned before here, Coca Cola and Pepsi were well ahead 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.680 in the soda game right like. By the nineteen sixties, 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.560 Doctor Pepper was in fifth place in the soda wars, 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.680 and it wasn't even a competition. And that's partially because 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.280 Pepsi and Coke had done a really clever thing. They'd 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.440 each gone into markets to work with bottling companies and 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.400 made them sign agreements that they had to be exclusive 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.760 to their cola. But in nineteen sixty three, doctor Pepper 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.680 got a federal court to rule that because no cola 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.880 nut extract is in the drink, it is not actually 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.080 a cola. And because of that loophole, they got bottlers 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.800 around the nation to start making the drink for them. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.240 So now if you're a bottler, you can like bottle 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.240 Pepsi and Doctor Pepper, or Coke and Doctor Pepper without 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.720 any conflict of interest. And if you remember, that's basically 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.200 the point at which Coca Cola decides to accelerate the 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.680 development of their Mister pib concoction. It's basically so that 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:23.880 they can offer these companies their own version of the 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.360 drink and cut Doctor Pepper out. Anyway. According to the 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.400 Motley Fool, the company went from doing about fifteen million 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.720 dollars of sales annually to two hundred and twenty seven 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.600 million dollars of sales in nineteen seventy seven, and it 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.840 changed the company's perception of just being this regional drink. 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.440 And actually, just to bring this poem for a second, 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.880 when Dr Pepper entered the New York market in nineteen 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.640 seventy there was this Dallas born journalist named David de Vos, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.480 and he told Texas Monthly about how he entered a 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.680 Manhattan delicatessen and he ordered a kosher salami on rye 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.400 with a cold and sparkling Doctor Pepper. And it was 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.200 this thing that it was unimaginable to him prior to that, right, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.320 like it was this taste of home. And as he 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.639 wrote quote, it simply blew my mind. It was like 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.840 the merging of two great cultures. Munching on a big 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.840 kosher pickle and washing it down with my Doctor Pepper 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:19.280 almost brought tears of joy. The two complimented each other 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.920 like wine and cheese. All right, I guess means people 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.200 have been pairing Doctor Pepper with pickles for a very 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:26.040 long time. 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:29.240 Now, apparently. So that is a great fact, and it's 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.600 gonna be hard to top, but I think I have 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:35.360 one that'll do it, because Mango, I remember that when 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.960 you were younger you were a huge Guns n' Roses fan. Well, actually, 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.800 I may have just made that up, but either way, 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:42.960 it's a good fact. Did you know that Guns and 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.400 Roses once sued Dr Pepper? 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.280 No? But uh, but now I'm very curious. 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:50.560 Well, I don't know if you remember this, but Chinese 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.679 Democracy was an album that came out in two thousand 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.919 and eight and it had taken forever to create. 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:58.800 Yeah, I remember, it was like one of the most 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.280 expensive albums of all time, and they're always talking about 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:02.400 what it was going to come out. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.080 That's exactly right. And Guns n' Rowse's last original music 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.439 before that had been the Use Your Illusion one and 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.760 two albums from nineteen ninety one, and trying to get 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.560 their new album, Chinese Democracy off the ground had just 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.960 been this nightmare, of course, and apparently they'd recorded like 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.119 over fifty tracks. Slash left the band, the guitarist Buckethead 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.199 left the band, lots of others left the band, and 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.280 tons of creative differences in all this drama. And to 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:33.400 your point, Axel Rose, he'd spent like thirteen million dollars 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.280 of David Geffen's money in the studio to that point. 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.320 Then Dr Pepper for some reason stepped into the fray 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.119 and offered a free Doctor Pepper to everyone in America 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.560 except for Buckethead and Slash if the band just put 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.920 out the album. The copy from the offer is incredible. 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:52.879 I'm just going to read it here. It says, we 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:57.480 completely understand and empathize with Axel's request for perfection. We 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.800 know once it's released people will refer to it as 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.880 Doctor Pepper for the Ears because it will be such 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:07.080 a refreshing blend of rich bold sounds, an instant classic. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.199 I just love this so weirdly. Axel Rose said that 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.080 he appreciated the support, said he'd share his drink with 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.000 Bucketheads since he played on the album, and then later 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.719 announced that the album would be coming out some months 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.880 later and Doctor Pepper kept their promise, which is all 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:26.080 really cool, except the rollout was poorly executed. The details 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.480 are too much to go through here, but trying to 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.760 get free drinks to three hundred and five million Americans 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.680 turns out to be easier said than done. And it's 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.800 not clear whether Doctor Pepper actually believed that the album 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.600 is going to come out as promised or not, since 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.680 it had been like fourteen years in the making anyway. 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.560 People were pissed. Axel's lawyers threatened a lawsuit and called 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.240 the whole thing this unmitigated disaster, and they said, quote 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.960 in the eyes of vocal fans, doctor Pepper ruined Chinese 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:59.920 democracy's release. They also demanded full page apologies from doctor 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.520