Now I personally have no problem with Dr. Dre, but the fact that he was chosen as the spokesman for this campaign makes me wonder about the direction of Dr. Pepper's advertising. Are they now gearing their ads towards the African-American community? Of course this strategic marketing campaign is by no means new. For example, McDonald's shifted their focus to the black community back in 2003 when they came up with the slogan "I'm Lovin' it".
Now in the more likely scenario (which is that I'm 100% wrong) they just really like their "Trust me, I'm a Doctor" campaign and plan on continuing to use celebrity "Doctors" as their spokesmen.
Which begs the question, "Who will they choose next?"
Here are a few candidates that I thought of off the top of my head:
1.) Dr. Dolittle (Eddie Murphy)
If the powers that be at Dr. Pepper went this route I'd be right back on board with my inkling that my favorite soft drink is being marketed directly to the African-American community. Eddie Murphy's popularity may have decreased in the last decade or so, but he was the prominent African-American celebrity in the 1980s.
Also not for nothing, I know a girl whose dentist is named Dr. Dolittle and she's terrified of him.
2.) Dr. Phil
I've never been a Dr. Phil fan, but apparently he has some sort of national appeal. I'm sure you've all seen it, but everytime I hear Dr. Phil's name I can't help but think of this.
3.) Dr. J.D. Dorian (Zach Braff)
Is Scrubs still on the air? I know it was picked up by ABC, but did that last for a full season? Scrubs is one of those shows that I never really got into, but I've seen a bunch of episodes and I've never really been disappointed.
For some reason I get that the feeling that Braff is the most likely of all of my nominees to actually get picked and agree to doing commercials for Dr. Pepper.
4.) "McDreamy" Dr. Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey)
There's no question that the mere thought of "McDreamy" makes the majority of white suburban women cream themselves and considering that they are the primary grocery shoppers I think this would make for an extraordinarily successfil advertising campaign.
5.) Dr. House (Hugh Laurie)
I've heard nothing but good things about this show and I still have yet to see a single episode. From what I can tell the character House seems like the man so I would be thrilled if he was chosen to represent my favorite soft drink.
6.) Dr. Christian Troy and Dr. Sean McNamara
Nip/Tuck used to be a phenomenal show, but in the past few seasons it has just gotten completely ridiculous. I guess weird storylines come with the territory when your protaganists are plastic surgeons, but enough is enough. This series has dragged on for two seasons too many.
7.) Dr. James Andrews
Dr. James Andrews is the most famous orthopedic surgeon in the country. Whenever a high profile athlete needs surgery they go to Dr. James Andrews. He's so famous that he has the reverse Cher/Madonna appeal. He's one of those people that is always referred to by his full name.
While he's definitely very well known among the sports community, he definitely isn't very visibly. In fact, until I googled him less than a minute ago I never knew what he looked like (Not gonna lie, I thought he was younger).
I'm not sure if he has any commercial appeal, but if any true sports fan heard/saw his name they would immediately know who he was. Now that I think of it that's a pretty good question to ask someone (I'm looking at you every girl I know that's ever said the following) who claims to be "a huge sports fan. If they don't answer "Dr. James Andrews" to the question, "Who is the doctor that all of the big time athetes go to when they need surgery?" than they are not a true sports fan.
1 comment:
Gene Simmons. KISS. Dr. Love. Enough Said.
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