Dr. Pepper's Chinese Democracy Offer Goes Awry

(MoneyWatch)  Back in March, Dr. Pepper offered a free drink to every American if rock band Guns N' Roses released its new album, Chinese Democracy, by the end of the year. The general consensus among music fans was that it was a risk-free offer for Dr. Pepper, as GNR had been working on the album since 1994 and had already missed several promised release dates.

But GNR (which said it played no part in Dr. Pepper's offer) managed this week to finally release the album, so Dr. Pepper made good on its promise.

Or tried to. Sort of. The company offered a free coupon for a 20 oz. Dr. Pepper to anyone who registered on the company's website on November 23. Guns N' Roses issued a press release urging fans and other Americans to register -- and enough listened that they managed to overwhelm Dr. Pepper's servers, resulting in error messages or blank pages that refused to load.

Dr. Pepper extended the offer an extra day, but according to Rolling Stone, the band is demanding an apology for the fiasco, saying it "ruined" the album's release day for many fans.