Bodog Beat

Guns N' Roses is being blamed for the great Dr. Pepper debacle. (Wikimedia Images)

Dr. Pepper's marketing scheme suffered the tragedy of terrible timing. But, after 17 years of delay – how were they to know Axl Rose would get his shit together and finally release Chinese Democracy? Thus, they were forced to cash in on their promise – a free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in America. In order to minimize their cost, the company attached some strings to their offer in an effort to drive traffic to their website and also make it more difficult for Americans to redeem their soda. The 24-hour time frame they gave people to sign up for their free can, crashed their website and left a ton of angry consumers soda-less.

Now, Guns N' Roses fans are blaming the band for the Dr. Pepper debacle – even though the band were not affiliated with the promotion.

"When you go on the blogs and you read the responses from the fans, they associated Axl with this promotion – and blame him for the fact that they didn't get their free soda," said Guns N' Roses' lawyer Laurie Soriano.

Soriano sent a letter to Dr. Pepper on behalf of the band, asking the soft drink company to make good on its offer. She has yet to hear back.

Additionally, Rose has threatened legal action, citing intellectual property abuse and lawyer Alan S. Gutman said Dr Pepper's promotion was "an unmitigated disaster which defrauded consumers and, in the eyes of vocal fans, 'ruined' the day of Chinese Democracy's release."