Dr Pepper is a soft drink, marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904 and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand (as an imported drink) and South America. Variants include a non-high fructose corn syrup version, Diet Dr Pepper, as well as a line of versions with additional flavors, first introduced in the 2000s.

W.W. Clements, a former CEO and president of the Dr Pepper/7-Up Company, described the taste of Dr Pepper as one-of-a-kind, saying "I've always maintained you cannot tell anyone what Dr Pepper tastes like because it's so different. It's not an apple, it's not an orange, it's not a strawberry, it's not a root beer, it's not even a cola. It's a different kind of drink with a unique taste all its own."^[2]

History[link]

The U.S. Patent Office recognizes December 1, 1885 as the first time Dr Pepper was served. It was introduced nationally in the United States at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as a new kind of soda pop, made with 23 flavors. Its introduction in 1885 preceded the introduction of Coca-Cola by one year.

It was formulated by Brooklyn-born pharmacist Charles Alderton in Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas.^[1] To test his new drink, he first offered it to store owner Wade Morrison, who also found it to his liking. Patrons at Morrison's soda fountain soon learned of Alderton's new drink and began ordering a "Waco".^[3] Alderton gave the formula to Morrison who named it Dr Pepper.

Name[link]

There are many theories about the origins of the soft drink's name. One conjecture is that the "pep" refers to pepsin. In 2009, an old ledger book filled with formulas and recipes was discovered by a man named Bill Waters while shopping at an antiques stores in the Texas Panhandle.^[4] Several sheets and letterheads hinted that it had come from the W.B. Morrison & Co. Old Corner Drug Store (the same store where Dr Pepper was first served in 1885) and faded letters on the book's cover spelled out "Castles Formulas". John Castles was a partner of Morrison's for a time and worked at that location as early as 1880. One recipe in the book titled "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters" was of particular interest, and some speculated it could be an early recipe for Dr Pepper. However, Dr Pepper Snapple Group insists it is not the formula for Dr Pepper, but is instead a medicinal recipe for a digestive aid. The book was put up for auction in May 2009 but no one purchased it.^[5]

Like many early sodas, the drink was marketed as a brain tonic and energizing pick-me-up, so another theory holds that it was named for the pep it supposedly gave to users.

Others believe the drink was named after a real Dr Pepper. One candidate is Dr Charles T. Pepper of Rural Retreat, Virginia, who might have been honored either in order for Morrison to obtain permission to marry the doctor's daughter, or in gratitude to Pepper for giving Morrison his first job. However, Morrison lived nearly 50 miles from Rural Retreat, and Pepper's daughter was only 8 years old at the time Morrison relocated to Waco.

Another possibility is Dr Pepper of Christiansburg, Virginia.^[6] U.S. Census records show a young Morrison working as a pharmacy clerk in Christiansburg. One of the following pages of this census supposedly shows a Dr Pepper and daughter Malinda or Malissa, age 16. Since census takers of the period were walking door to door, and their census entries were on following pages, it seems likely that Morrison and the family of Dr Pepper did not live very far from each other.

Name formatting[link]

Glass bottle of Dr Pepper featuring the 1970s logo

The period (full stop) after "Dr" was discarded for stylistic and legibility reasons in the 1950s. Dr Pepper's logo was redesigned and the text in this new logo was slanted. The period made "Dr." look like "Di:". After some debate, the period was removed for good (it had been used off and on in previous logos), as it would also help remove any medical connotation with the product.^{[citation needed]}

Legal and trade history[link]

In 1951, Dr Pepper sued the Coca-Cola company for $750,000(US) asserting that nickel Coca-Colas were sold below cost and were a restraint of trade.^[7]

In 1972, Dr Pepper sued the Coca-Cola company for trademark infringement based on a soft drink marketed by Coca-Cola called "Peppo".^[8] They tried naming it Dr. Pibb, which was also determined to violate the trademark. The soft drink was later renamed Mr Pibb.

Dr Pepper became insolvent in the early 1980s, prompting an investment group to take the company private. Several years later, Coca-Cola attempted to acquire Dr Pepper, but was blocked from doing so by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Around the same time, Seven Up was acquired from Phillip Morris by the same investment company that bailed out Dr Pepper. Upon the failure of the Coca-Cola merger, Dr Pepper and Seven Up merged (creating Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., or DPSU), giving up international branding rights in the process. After the DPSU merger, Coca-Cola obtained most non-U.S. rights to the Dr Pepper name (with PepsiCo taking the Seven Up rights).^[9]

Dr Pepper was a frequent player in the 1990s antitrust history of the United States. As part of these activities, economists and the courts have weighed in with the opinion that Dr Pepper is a "Pepper" flavored drink and not a "Cola". In 1995, the FTC blocked a merger between The Coca-Cola Company and Dr Pepper on grounds that included concerns about a monopoly of the "Pepper" flavor category of soft drinks.^[10] In 1996, Dr Pepper was involved in an antitrust case involving Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys, NFL Properties, Nike, and other commercial interests active at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas.^[11] Jones had made deals with Dr Pepper and the other companies that, the league said, violated their exclusive marketing contracts with Coca-Cola and other businesses. The NFL agreed to allow Jones and other teams to pursue their own agreements.^[11]

In 1998, the "Pepper" flavor soda category was a major part of the analysis supporting an antitrust case between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Varieties[link]

Dietary brands[link]

• Dietetic Dr Pepper was introduced in 1962 (cans) and 1963 (bottles). Sales were slow partly due to the public misconception that the drink was for diabetics, and in 1966, the company renamed the product Sugar Free Dr Pepper.^[12] The name was changed to Diet Dr Pepper in 1987. In 1991, Diet Dr Pepper was reformulated to use aspartame, according to Cadbury Schweppes. Diet Dr Pepper, after posting a 6.4% gain in sales volume, became the 10th best selling soda in 2006 according to Beverage Digest magazine.^[13] From 1991 to 2006, the beverage was marketed using the slogan "Diet Dr Pepper tastes more like Regular Dr Pepper." In 2006, a new marketing campaign was launched comparing the taste of Diet Dr Pepper to desserts instead of regular Dr Pepper with the slogan "There's nothing diet about it."^[14]
• Pepper Free (1982–1985) was first introduced to test markets in 1982 as a caffeine-free version of Diet Dr Pepper, citing company research that indicated a need for a product to fill a niche for the health-conscious consumer.^[15] Originally introduced in only six states,^[16] the Pepper Free brand lasted for only three years, and was phased out in 1985.^[17] While a caffeine-free dietetic product continues to be produced under various name permutations, the reason for pulling the Pepper Free brand are unknown, but could have been due to confusion with the rival "Pepsi Free" brand (currently "Caffeine-Free Pepsi").
• Caffeine Free Dr Pepper (non-diet) was first released in 1983 due to the success of Pepper Free.^[18]
• Dr Pepper TEN, a low-calorie version of Dr Pepper, was released in 2011. This version retains the iconic taste of regular Dr. Pepper's 23 flavors, but with just 10 calories per serving.^[19] It is being especially marketed toward men, featuring a distinctly masculine package design, complete with a gunmetal gray color scheme, industrial rivets and bold new font, and the tagline "It's Not for Women." This has created some controversy among women consumers.^{[20] [21]}

Flavor variations[link]

• Dr Pepper Red Fusion (2002–2004) was available only in the US. The predominantly cherry-flavored, red-colored Red Fusion was the first new flavor added to the Dr Pepper family of beverages in the company's 122-year history. Its production was essentially canceled less than a year later, although in certain areas it was available until late 2004.
• Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper (began 2004) was released in some areas on October 15, 2004. The beverage tastes similar to Dr Pepper but has stronger cherry and vanilla flavors added. Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper was the first drink in the planned "Soda Fountain Classics" line of beverages from Dr Pepper, a range of drinks designed to taste similar to popular soda fountain drinks from the 1950s. It is now only available in select areas of the U.S. It was available in Canada for a short period of time, but it ceased production as of mid-2007. It became available again in mid-2008 after Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper ceased production.
• Dr Pepper Berries and Cream, (2006–2007) and its diet version, were released in most US locations in April 2006. It is the second beverage in Dr Pepper's "Soda Fountain Classics" line of drinks. In Canada, the diet version of the drink was available approximately from May to August 2007 and the non-diet version was available from September to December 2007. Berries and Cream and Diet Berries and Cream have also been discontinued.
• Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper (2007–2008) was introduced as a limited edition flavor on November 21, 2007. It was discontinued in April 2008. It became available in Canada in early January 2008. A non-diet version was never created. The taste is similar to Canfield's Diet Cherry Chocolate Fudge Soda, but with the distinctive Dr Pepper flavor. It was featured in the song "Cherry Chocolate Rain" by YouTube celebrity Tay Zonday. Upon ceasing production, it was replaced by Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper.
• Dr Pepper Cherry (began 2009) was released in some areas around February 2009. The beverage tastes similar to Dr Pepper, but has stronger cherry flavor added. Variety comes in both regular and diet versions. Gene Simmons of the band Kiss was chosen to be the variation's spokesman, with a commercial circulating on television in March/April, 2009 featuring Kiss's song "Calling Dr. Love" ("Trust me, I'm a doctor" claims Simmons in the commercial).
• Heritage Dr Pepper (aka Dr Pepper Heritage) (began 2009) became available around November 2009 in various outlets around the United States. As its name implies, it is a "re-release" of sorts of Dr Pepper's original formula, which uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, which Dr Pepper and other brands of soft drink started to use around the early 1970s. The formula of Heritage Dr Pepper and Dublin Dr Pepper are assumed to be one and the same, but that Heritage Dr Pepper is a larger scale, national release aimed at capturing the same marketing essence as the Pepsi and Mountain Dew throwbacks.
• Dr Pepper "Made with Real Sugar" was released to commemorate the drink's 125th anniversary during the summer of 2010. It featured the use of "real" sugar which was likely a mix of cane and beet sugar as opposed to its usual high fructose corn syrup. This version of the soda featured six collectable 12-oz cans and a 20-oz plastic bottle decorated with Dr Pepper's old slogans and images from the 1960s.^[22]
• United Kingdom's version of Dr Pepper, along with various other countries, is manufactured with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup (much like Heritage Dr Pepper in the US, as mentioned above). Along with Sprite and Fanta soft drinks, a "Zero" version was introduced, meaning no added sugar/low calorie, but maintaining a taste more in line with regular Dr Pepper than its diet variant.

Sweeteners[link]

Much of the soft drink industry in the United States stopped using sugar in the 1980s, in response to a series of price supports and import quotas introduced beginning in 1982 that increased the price of sugar above the global market price. As a result, most U.S. soft drinks, including Dr Pepper, now use high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.^[23]

A handful of U.S. bottling plants still use sugar to sweeten Dr Pepper. The Dr Pepper bottling plant in Dublin, Texas produces such a beverage, known as Dublin Dr Pepper. In the 1980s, plant owner W.P. "Bill" Kloster (June 7, 1918 – September 27, 1999) refused to convert the plant to high fructose corn syrup.^[24] Since 2003, Dublin Dr Pepper has expanded its distribution to most of Texas and the Internet. Other bottlers still using sugar include Temple Bottling Company, in Temple, Texas, Ab-Tex in Abilene, and West Jefferson Dr Pepper (WJDP) of West Jefferson, NC.

On March 25, 2007, Coca-Cola bottlers in the Dr Pepper Heartland commenced sales of 16 ounce cans of Dr Pepper made with cane sugar and featuring a logo with 'Old Doc' on them. This product is scheduled to be a limited time release.

In January 2009, "Heritage Dr Pepper" became available in select markets in cans and 16 oz bottles with the distinction "Made with Real Sugar".

Beginning in July 2010, Dr Pepper's 125th Anniversary edition in some markets was made with real sugar. Since Dr Pepper Corporate has no control over whether the bottlers will use real sugar, there is no guarantee the soda will have real sugar.^[25]

As of January of 2012, the bottling plant in Dublin, TX is no longer bottling Dr. Pepper.^[26]

Distribution[link]

A can of Dr Pepper in Japan

In the United States, Dr Pepper Snapple Group does not have a complete network of bottlers and distributors, so the drink is sometimes bottled under contract by Coca-Cola or Pepsi bottlers. Prior to the initial Cadbury Schweppes investment-turned-buyout, 30% of Dr Pepper/Seven Up products were produced and distributed by Pepsi bottlers, and another 30% by Coca-Cola bottlers. The remaining 40% were produced and distributed by independent bottlers (mainly consisting of pre-Dr Pepper/Seven Up-merger regional bottlers) and the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group. Currently, the majority of Pepsi and Coke bottlers bottling Dr Pepper are owned by PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company after their buyouts of their major bottlers.

Presently, Dr Pepper Snapple relies on its own bottling group to bottle and distribute its products in more than 30 states. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have essentially stopped bottling and distributing CSAB products in favor of in-house alternatives, although regional exceptions can be found.^[27]

In Canada and Poland, Cadbury-Schweppes has licensed distribution rights to PepsiCo. In Mexico, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Finland, Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, and Norway, Cadbury-Schweppes owns the trademark and distributes the product. In Romania can be found only in larger cities, imported from Belgium. In Portugal, Spain, France, Turkey, and Greece, it is almost impossible to find, as it is usually imported from the United Kingdom in particular supermarkets. In almost all of the other countries of the world, the Coca-Cola Company purchased the trademark from Cadbury-Schweppes and distributes the product. This mixed worldwide ownership of the trademark is due to antitrust regulations which prevented Coca-Cola from purchasing the rights everywhere. Dr Pepper is also available in Japan and South Korea. Although not locally bottled in Australia or New Zealand, Dr Pepper is imported and sold by USA Foods, and many other small retailers in Australia. Dr Pepper is not available in Ukraine, Thailand, Italy, Russia, North Korea and Serbia. It is rarely sold in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, as it is imported from the United States.

Other products[link]

• Dr Pepper has a line of jelly beans made with the Jelly Belly company.
• A Dr Pepper gum was marketed for a time in the early/mid 1980s, but has since been discontinued.
• Dr Pepper collaborated with Vita Food Products to produce Dr Pepper Sweet & Kickin' BBQ Sauce and Dr Pepper "More than Mesquite" Marinade.^[28]
• Cosmetics company Bonne Bell includes Dr Pepper among its licensed soft drink flavored "Lip Smackers" lip balms.
• Brach's has a line of hard candy that features Dr Pepper, Orange Crush, A&W Root Beer, and 7 Up flavored hard candies in Brach’s Soda Poppers.
• Dr Pepper has an ice cream topping syrup also manufactured by Vita Food Products in 2009 called "Dr Pepper cherry dessert topping".^[29]
• Dr Pepper also created an iPod skin cover, but it was discontinued.
• Dr Pepper slurpee
• Dr Pepper Flavored Freezies are currently available with Grape Crush and Hires Root Beer Flavors.

Marketing[link]

"Dr Pepper Time", according to one promotion, was at 10, 2 and 4 o'clock. During World War II, a syndicated radio program, The 10–2–4 Ranch (later titled 10–2–4 Time), aired in the South and other areas where Dr Pepper was distributed. The show featured the Sons of the Pioneers and Dick Foran.^[30] In the 1960s, the tune of the chorus of "The Glow-Worm" was used in ads, with lyrics which ended, "It's Dr Pepper Time!"

In the 1960s, Dr Pepper released the Charge Ad:

Charge!!
Get Going Again,
With the Dr Pepper Difference.

The "Be a Pepper" series referred to fans of Dr Pepper as "Peppers", and often featured crowd dance scenes with elaborate, over-the-top choreography. One popular ad jingle was:

I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper,
She's a Pepper, we're a Pepper,
Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?
Be a Pepper. Drink Dr Pepper.

This became grist for a number of pop culture references and parodies. One of the first was a July 1981 sketch on the program SCTV, in which an overly-excited injured man (Eugene Levy) extols the work of a "Dr Shekter" (Rick Moranis) who has been treating him. Levy and a group of patients wearing casts and crutches engage in their own elaborate dancing and singing ("Wouldn't you like to see my doctor, too?"), which Shekter first uses as an opportunity to explain his work, and then grows alarmed ("These people should not be dancing!"). In the 1982 sex farce Beach Girls, the slogan became "I'm a popper, he's a popper..." Wreck-Gar parodied the slogan in The Return of Optimus Prime.

After appearing in a commercial, David Naughton had his breakthrough film role as the main character in the John Landis film An American Werewolf in London. Another famous "I'm a Pepper" dancer was Ray Bolger, the actor who played the Scarecrow in the film The Wizard of Oz.

In the early 1960s, Dr Pepper promoted the idea of serving the drink hot with lemon slices in winter. This idea appeared in the film Blast from the Past initially set in the early '60s.

A 12-ounce Dr Pepper can sporting the new logo

In 1978, Jake Holmes wrote the lyrics to "Be a Pepper". Later, Randy Newman wrote another jingle "The Most Original Soft Drink Ever". Barry Manilow performed Jake's jingle in concerts and on albums under the inclusion of "VSM – Very Strange Medley". A TV commercial was also created using the jingle and ran from 1977–1985.^[31]

Dr Pepper has also been featured outside of the "I'm a Pepper" motif. An example is in the video game Pikmin 2, where one of the collectible treasures is a Dr Pepper bottle cap (it is labeled as the "Drought Ender"). Also, an empty Dr Pepper bottle is featured in the book Ragweed by Newbery Medal-winning author Avi; the book’s illustrator, Brian Floca, is the son of a Dr Pepper bottler. Several of the classic non-"I'm a Pepper" commercials featured prominent movie stars, one being a television advertisement with Chris Rock as a child enjoying a Dr Pepper.

The 1980s "Out of the Ordinary" advertising campaign involved a series of post-apocalyptic commercials featuring a space cowboy and an alien sidekick seeking "something different" from a simple generic cola.^[32] The campaign also produced commercials featuring the movie creature Godzilla, where citizens of a Japanese town offered Dr Pepper as a libation. The commercials were prominently featured during the 1986 syndication of The Canned Film Festival, which was sponsored by the Dr Pepper Company.

Outside of the United States, Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford played for a Dr Pepper advert in the UK with the slogan, "Hold out for the out of the ordinary."

Dr Pepper's "Be You" advertising campaign centered on commercials featuring pairs of popular musicians, including LeAnn Rimes with Reba McEntire, Paulina Rubio with Celia Cruz, Thalía with Tito Puente, B2K with Smokey Robinson, Anastacia with Cyndi Lauper, Patricia Manterola with Ana Gabriel, and LL Cool J with Run-D.M.C. The campaign also featured individual musicians, notably Garth Brooks.

Dr Pepper made several appearances in the 1994 Robert Zemeckis major motion picture, Forrest Gump, as it was the beverage of choice for the movie's namesake lead character, played by Tom Hanks. In one of the film's Dr Pepper scenes, Forrest's narrative suggests, "The best part about goin' to the White House was, they had all the food and drink that you wanted ... I must have had me 15 Dr Peppers." When subsequently asked by the President how he felt, Forrest gave an honest answer of "I gotta pee." Although, arguably the film's largest product placement installation, the depiction of Dr Pepper was perhaps not always accurate as, in another scene during the 1972 New Year's Eve celebration which Forrest attends, he drinks a Dr Pepper with a logo that was inconsistent with the timeline of the film.

Dr Pepper was introduced to the Australian market in 1997 with a short-lived TV advertising campaign and low priced 280 ml cans sold through supermarkets. Dr Pepper was subsequently sold in 1.25 litre plastic bottles alongside other major brands until 2003. Cadbury Schweppes stated the product did not gain acceptance by Australians, whose detractors complained that the drink tasted like "cough syrup"^{[citation needed]} (a tag also given to sarsaparilla). A report on the soft drink industry by IBIS accused Cadbury Schweppes of failing in their marketing of the brand, given its global appeal. It is probable that the major problem with the marketing campaign was in advertising it as "American". The use of the Statue of Liberty moving to Australia and passing cans of Dr Pepper on to two Australian males made its imported (i.e. "non-Australian") status clear.

After withdrawing from the Australian market, Dr Pepper arrived without fanfare in New Zealand. Cans imported from the U.S. are available in some specialty stores in New Zealand and Australia.

On the December 20, 2000, episode of the Late Show with David Letterman, Letterman jokingly referred to Dr Pepper as "liquid manure". After a representative of Dr Pepper complained, CBS agreed not to rerun the Dec. 20 episode. Letterman repeatedly made assurances on the show that he was joking.^[33]

Diet Dr Pepper grew 2.8% in 2001 while regular Dr Pepper dipped 1.7%, according to AC Nielsen data. The company in 2001 is promoting diet with new ads that promise authentic Dr Pepper taste. The message: Diet Dr Pepper tastes more like the original. The ads spoof examples of new ideas inferior to the originals, including XGA (not PGA) Extreme Golf and a TV show CHimPs (rather than CHiPs).

Several ads for Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper appeared on television in 2005. In one, a young woman on a blind date at a restaurant who sips into the beverage, suddenly makes her date, restaurant patrons, and even a waitress all part of a musical sequence involving The Muppets version of the song "Mah Nà Mah Nà".

One campaign features the Queen song "I Want It All".

On January 1, 2008, the company unveiled a new TV ad campaign featuring the Cheers theme song ("Where Everybody Knows Your Name") performed by Gary Portnoy.

In a 2008 ad, someone was sitting in a college lecture and took a sip of his Dr Pepper. When he stopped drinking, the Dr Pepper can started singing "Flava Licious" (Flava Flav). He covered the can, and when he let go, the can played a Spanish version of the song. He took another sip, and it began playing a Queen version of the song. Everybody in the class (even the teacher and the brainiac) started "rocking out".

In 2008, Dr Pepper in the UK restarted launching its old adverts and slogan, "What's the worst that can happen?". They also started an onpack promotion for free ringtones with up to 20 to collect. A commercial for this included Jesse Eisenberg being forced to be on live TV without his clothes on.

As of 2009, the slogan of the product is "Drink it slow. Doctor's orders". Advertising supporting the slogan has celebrities with famous relations to the word "doctor" (Dr. Dre, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Gene Simmons (writer of the Kiss song "Calling Dr. Love"), et al.) or who played fictional doctors (such as Neil Patrick Harris or Kelsey Grammer) endorsing the beverage. The ads culminate with the celebrity stating, "Trust me. I'm a doctor", followed by the new slogan appearing onscreen with a glass of Dr Pepper.^{[34][dead link]}

In 2010, Dr Pepper was part of a marketing/promotional campaign with Marvel Studios to promote the summer blockbuster Iron Man 2; characters from the film adorned cans of Dr Pepper, Diet Dr Pepper, and Dr Pepper Cherry.

In 2011, rapper Pitbull appeared in a commercial with the slogan "Let's have a real good time."

Slogans[link]

• 1889–1914: "King of Beverages."
• 1920s–1940s: "Drink a Bite to Eat at 10, 2, and 4 o'clock."
• 1939: "When You Drink a Dr. Pepper You Drink a Bite to Eat."
• 1930s–1940s: "Good For Life."
• 1945: "Dr. Pepper has 23 flavors"
• 1950s: "The Friendly Pepper Upper."
• 1960s: "America's Most Misunderstood Soft Drink."
• 1970s: "The Most Original Soft Drink Ever."
• 1977–1983: "I'm a Pepper, He's a Pepper, We're a Pepper.", "Be a Pepper.", "Wouldn't you like to Be a Pepper too?"
• c. 1984 "Out of the Ordinary. Like You."
• c. 1984 "The Taste for Out of the Ordinary Bodies." (Diet Dr Pepper)
• 1984–1997: "Hold Out For the Out of the Ordinary."
• 1991: "Just what the Doctor ordered."
• c. 1997: "It's Dr Pepper Flavour, Silly!" Australia
• c. 1997: "Expect the Unexpected!" Australia
• 1997: "Now's the Time. This is the Place. Dr Pepper Is The Taste."
• 2000: "Dr Pepper, It Makes the World Taste Better."
• 2000–Present: "Just What The Dr Ordered."
• c. 2001 "Dr Pepper, so misunderstood"
• 2002–2004: "Be You."
• 2002–Present: "Solves All Your Problems." (used in Europe)
• 2003 "Dr Pepper, to try it is to love it" (used in the UK)
• 2004–Present "Dr Pepper, what's the worst that could happen?" (used in the UK)
• 2005–Present: "One Taste & You Get It."
• 2006: "Can You Handle The Taste?"^[35] (seen in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland)
• 2006: "Authentic blend of 23 flavors." USA, Canada
• 2006: "Dr Pepper, makes the world go round."
• 2006: "Dr Pepper, nothing better." USA
• 2006: "The Dr knows the right touch." (used in Europe)
• 2006: "There's more to it." USA
• c. 2006: "Get Berried in Cream" USA (used for the new Berries and Cream flavor)
• 2007: "I Want It All." USA
• 2007: "El Dr muy bueno" Latin America
• 2008: "What's the worst that could happen?" Europe
• 2008: "Drink It Slow, Dr's Orders" (USA)
• 2009: "Trust me – I'm a Doctor." (ft. Julius Erving, Kelsey Grammer, Gene Simmons, Dr. Dre) USA
• 2009: UK based television advertising; Sung "Dr Pepper, What's the worst that could happen?" UK
• 2009: "It's so amazingly smooth, you have try it to believe it!" and "Amazingly smooth" Dr Pepper Cherry
• 2010: "There's nothing like a Pepper" USA
• 2011: "Can you handle the taste?"

Free Dr Pepper for everyone in America[link]

In a unique marketing strategy, Dr Pepper entered a dare of sorts between themselves and Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose. They stated that if Axl Rose managed to release his new album, Chinese Democracy, in 2008, they would give everyone in America a free Dr Pepper. Chinese Democracy, which was in the works for 14 years, was released on November 23, 2008.^[36]

Dr Pepper put a coupon for a free can on its website, but the website to download the coupon was inaccessible throughout most of the day.^[37] In response to the difficulties, the option to phone in a request was made. After dialing 1-888-DRPEPPER the caller was greeted with an acknowledgment of the technical problems with the website and callers were then allowed to enter their name, address, and email address to receive their free Dr Pepper. Due to the website issues, the offer was extended until 6 p.m. on November 24, 2008, yet several people still experienced problems registering.^[38]

Rose threatened to sue Dr Pepper's manufacturer for a public apology and undisclosed damages, alleging it failed to honor this promise. No suit was filed.^[39]

Dr Pepper Museum[link]

The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Dr Pepper Museum, located in the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company building at 300 South Fifth Street in downtown Waco, Texas, opened to the public in 1991. The building was the first building to be built specifically to bottle Dr Pepper. It was completed in 1906, and Dr Pepper was bottled there until the 1960s. The museum has three floors of exhibits, a working old-fashioned soda fountain, and a gift store of Dr Pepper memorabilia.

Dr Pepper Capital of the World[link]

The company sells more Dr Pepper in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia than any other metropolitan area east of the Mississippi River. Roanoke is approximately 90 miles east of the hometown of Dr Charles T. Pepper, which is Rural Retreat, Virginia, and 30 miles east of Christiansburg, Virginia, home of Dr Pepper and Morrison referred to in the census information above. In the past, the city has been named the "Dr Pepper Capital of the World" and broke world records for its mass consumption of Dr Pepper in the late 1950s.^[40] Dr Pepper donated a portion of its sales revenue in the Roanoke area to finance restoration of a circa-1950s neon Dr Pepper sign, which has the company's "10–2–4" logo from the time, in downtown Roanoke.

See also[link]

	Texas portal
	Food portal

• Alcoholic Dr Pepper

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rodengen, Jeffrey L. (1995). The Legend of Dr Pepper/Seven-Up. Write Stuff Syndicate, Inc.. ISBN 0-945903-49-9. 
• "History of Dr Pepper". http://www.brandspeoplelove.com/csab/Brands/DrPepper/HistoryofDrPepper/tabid/147/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2007-07-04. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dr Pepper

• Dr Pepper official website
• Dr Pepper on MySpace
• The Dr Pepper Museum
• Dr Pepper Company at Handbook of Texas Online
• FTC Statement on Coca-Cola Dr Pepper Merger
• The Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company in Dublin, Texas
• Temple Bottling Company, in Temple, Texas
• Bootlegging Dr Pepper, June 5, 2008, by Robb Walsh, Houston Press
• Original Formula Found at Drug Store
• Bill Waters finds Dr Pepper original formula in notebook in antique store in Texas, May 5, 2009, Associated Press in New York Daily News
• Caffeine Content for Dr Pepper flavors compared to some other beverages, Good Housekeeping

Look up pepper in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Pepper or Peppers may refer to:

Plants and plant products[link]

The genus Piper (genus) of the pepper family (Piperaceae), including for example:

• Black pepper, white and green pepper, Piper nigrum
• Cubeb, Piper cubeba, also known as Java pepper
• Long pepper, Piper longum

The genus Capsicum of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), including for example:

• Banana pepper, a number of species and spices
• Bell pepper, a Capsicum annuum cultivar
• Cayenne pepper, a Capsicum annuum cultivar
• Chili pepper, a number of species
• Datil pepper, a Capsicum chinense cultivar
• Jalapeño, a Capsicum annuum cultivar

The genus Pimenta (genus) of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), including for example:

• Allspice (P. dioicia)
• Pimenta haitiensis
• Pimenta jamaicensis
• Pimenta obscura
• Pimenta racemosa (P. racemosa), West Indian bay tree

Other plants known as peppers:

• Aframomum melegueta, grains of paradise
• Macropiper excelsum, kawakawa
• Pseudowintera, horopito
• Pseudowintera colorata, New Zealand Pepperwood
• Schinus genus, peppercorn trees
• Tasmanian pepper, Mountain pepper or "pepperbush", Tasmannia species
• Zanthoxylum genus
  • Sichuan pepper, produced from the fruit of several Zanthoxylum species
• Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, American Pepperwood

People[link]

• Pepper (name)
• Peppers (name)

Fictional characters[link]

• Pepper, an orphan girl in the musical Annie
• Pepper, a character in the Chili's restaurant activity packages
• Pepper, a Dutch Warmblood horse with light blue highlights from the Horseland TV series
• Pepper, a bartender in the musical Mamma Mia! (and the movie Mamma Mia! The Movie)
• Pepper, one of the main characters in the animation Pepper and Kad
• Pepper Ann, the main character from the Disney TV series Pepper Ann
• Pepper Potts, the secretary of Iron Man in the Marvel comics universe
• Chris Pepper, character played by Peter Lawford in 1969 comedy One More Time (film) directed by Jerry Lewis
• Sgt. Floyd Pepper, a character from The Muppet Show and related works
• Sgt. Leann "Pepper" Anderson, the central character in the 1970s Police Woman TV series, played by Angie Dickinson
• Waldo Pepper, protagonist of the film The Great Waldo Pepper
• Five Little Peppers, a family with five children in a children's literature series.

Music[link]

• Pepper (band), a rock-reggae band originally from Hawaii
• "Pepper" (song), a 1996 song by the alternative rock band Butthole Surfers

Other[link]

• Dr Pepper, a carbonated soft drink
• Newark Pepper, a defunct Major League Baseball team from the Federal League
• Perets', a Ukrainian satirical newspaper also known as "Pepper"
• Pepper (baseball) and Pepper (volleyball), sports warm-up exercises
• Pepper (card game), an alternate name for Bid Euchre
• Pepper Ann, an animated series that debuted in 1997
• Pepper Plugin API (PPAPI), a web browser plugin interface
• Pepper II, an early 1980s video game by Exidy

See also[link]

• Salt-n-Pepa, an American hip hop duo
• All pages with titles containing "Pepper"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Tay Zonday
Zonday in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Adam Nyerere Bahner[1]
Born	(1982-07-06) July 6, 1982 (age 29) Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Genres	Outsider music Electronica R&B Experimental music Spoken word
Occupations	Actor, singer, musician, announcer, voice artist, comedian, YouTube personality
Instruments	Vocals Keyboard
Years active	2007–present
Website	www.tayzonday.com

Adam Nyerere Bahner (born July 6, 1982^[2]), better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday,^[3] is an American actor, singer, musician, announcer, voice artist, comedian and YouTube personality.^[4] He is well-known by listeners for his baritone singing voice. He garnered mainstream exposure when his song "Chocolate Rain" became a viral video^[5] in July 2007. As of March 2012^[update], "Chocolate Rain" has more than 79 million views.^[6]

Early life[link]

Zonday was born Adam Nyerere Bahner in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 6, 1982 and graduated from The Evergreen State College in 2004.

Media response[link]

In July 2007, Zonday went from being a grad student in Minneapolis, Minnesota^[7] to having his video featured on YouTube's front page^{[citation needed]} and making appearances on national television. He appeared on the Opie & Anthony Show,^[8] G4TV's Attack of the Show!, VH1's Best Week Ever,^[9] Lily Allen and Friends, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Tosh.0 and Maury^[10][11] where he performed "Chocolate Rain" on national television a little over three months after he posted his composition on YouTube. He made the front page of Sunday's Los Angeles Times on August 12, 2007 with additional features in The Toronto Star, The Chicago Tribune''s RedEye, The Star Tribune^[12] and People^[11] and has appeared on CNN^[13] for a televised interview. He's also come out on Fox News. On February 12, 2008, he appeared on the television show Lily Allen and Friends on BBC Three, and performed a cover of Lily Allen's debut "Smile." In March 2008, the video won a YouTube-award in the category "Music."

The Australian Daily Telegraph newspaper wrote: "Tay Zonday is the biggest sellout in the world right now."^[14] People said: "He's scored a YouTube hit with his repetitive, keyboard-driven 'Chocolate Rain', and after a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tay Zonday's star is shining even brighter."^[11] The article also noted that celebrity musicians paid tribute to the song as its popularity rapidly peaked in August 2007. John Mayer reportedly copied Zonday's keyboard riff with his guitar in concert,^[15][16] along with appearing on Best Week Ever improvising a parody to the tune of Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right".^[17] Green Day drummer Tre Cool recorded a cover of "Chocolate Rain" which he posted on Youtube.^[18] Zonday also became the subject of thousands of other parodies and remixes on YouTube. A clip of his video was also shown on CW11's Online Nation, a new series.^[19][20][21] Zonday has been interviewed twice on Good Morning America, in March and November 2008.^[22]

Career[link]

Zonday starred in a commercial for Comedy Central's "Last Laugh 07", hosted by Lewis Black.^[23] He released a video called "Cherry Chocolate Rain,"^[24] in a promotion with Dr Pepper. He starred alongside Leslie Hall in a commercial for Firefox singing a song called "Users Against Boredom" in a parody of "We Are the World." Zonday has said that his voice is often compared to Ru Paul, Paul Robeson, Barry White, James Earl Jones, and Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies.^[25] He appeared in-person at Intel's Consumer Electronics Show booth, rendering the source files of the "Chocolate Rain" YouTube video in Sony Vegas.^[26]

The Grammy Award-winning music video for rock band Weezer's single "Pork and Beans" featured Zonday, along with other YouTube celebrities. As well, in May 2008, Zonday performed an acoustic version of the song with Brian Bell of Weezer, spoofing his own performance in "Chocolate Rain."^[27]

As a voice actor, he voiced part of a multimedia presentation built to celebrate 50 years of NASA history.^[28] He also voiced a role in Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, spoofing his own song "Chocolate Rain."^[29]

Zonday was featured on the Jace Hall Show, where he was comically interviewed at a famous Hollywood restaurant in a play on the dissonance between Internet-fame and the traditional entertainment industry.^[30]

In February 2010, he cameoed in a Vizio Super Bowl commercial opened by Beyoncé.^[4] In October 2010, he appeared on Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars autism charity event during a musical number with Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.^[31]

In August 2011, Zonday appeared on America's Got Talent and performed 15 seconds of his song "Chocolate Rain." Zonday was also featured in Dave Days' YouTube video spoof of Justin Bieber's song "Baby," which has over 14 million views. He had a cameo in The Guild Season 5 episode 3 Megagame-o-ramacon!, which aired on August 9, 2011. Zonday was featured in a 2011 Mike Diva comedy YouTube video as a dubstep dancing mastermind.^[32]

See also[link]

• List of YouTube celebrities
• Fifteen minutes of fame

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tay Zonday

• Tay Zonday Official website
• Tay Zonday's YouTube channel

Cherry Vanilla (born Kathleen Dorritie) is an American singer-songwriter, publicist, and actress. After working as an actress in Andy Warhol's Pork, she worked as a publicist for David Bowie, before becoming a rock singer. She subsequently became a publicist for Vangelis.

Career[link]

Kathleen Dorritie was born in Woodside, New York.^[1] Adopting the stage name Cherry Vanilla, she was in the New York and London productions of Andy Warhol's play, Pork, playing a necrophiliac nurse.^[2] She worked for MainMan LTD as David Bowie's publicist, in the early 1970s.^[2] She became known for her outrageous marketing strategies, which included an open offer to perform oral sex on any DJ who would play Bowie's records and a series of radio commercials that began "Hi, my name is Cherry Vanilla and I've got scoops for you…".

After parting ways with Bowie in 1974, Vanilla formed her first band with Kasim Sulton, which played under her name. In 1976 she formed Cherry Vanilla & her Staten Island Band, with Buzzy John Vierno (bass guitar), Frank La Rocca (drums), Thomas Morrongiello (guitar), and Gary Cohen (piano).^[3] The group's first released material was the track "Shake Your Ashes", on the Max's Kansas City album of 1976.^[3] 1976 also saw the release of Vanilla's art book, Pop Tart.^[2]

Her high profile in New York was the impetus for Miles Copeland III to invite her to England. She relocated to London in 1976, becoming part of the burgeoning punk scene and was signed by RCA Records. The London-based Cherry Vanilla Band initially consisted of Vanilla's boyfriend/guitarist Louis Lepore and pianist Zecca Esquibel, along with bassist Gordon "Sting" Sumner and drummer Stewart Copeland, who loaned their services and equipment in exchange for £15 a night and the support spot on her tour.^[4] (The support spot was for Copeland's band The Police, and would be the setting for the band's first live performances.^[5]) A more permanent line-up comprised Louis Lepore (guitar), Zecca Esquibel (keyboards), Howie Finkel (bass guitar), and Michael (Manny) Mancuso (drums).^[3] Their first release was the single "The Punk" in September 1977, followed in February 1978 by the debut album Bad Girl.^[3] Finkel and Esquibel left the band and with a string of replacements the band continued, releasing another single and a second album, Venus D'Vinyl, in 1979.^[3] She split up with Lepore and the group disbanded, with Vanilla returning to the US.

In 1980 she performed the narrative on Vangelis' "Not A Bit - All Of It" (from his See You Later album). She then ran his American office.^[6]

In 1985 she appears as the hitch hiker and waitress on Roger Waters' album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking^[7]

In 1987, she was the composer in the boxing club documentary film Broken Noses.

She returned to recording in the early 1990s, releasing Blue Roses, with Man Parrish, plus two singles. Blue Roses combines spoken word poetry with electronic music.^[3]

Her autobiography, Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla, was published in October 2010 by the Chicago Review Press.^[1] The foreword was written by Rufus Wainwright. A song entitled Cherry Vanilla celebrating the singer written and recorded by The (Fabulous) Cult of John Harley and produced by the legendary English producer Martin Rushent was used during the launch of the book.^[8]

A launch party for "Lick Me" was held November 4, 2010 at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles where Rufus Wainwright performed and Angela Bowie was in attendance.^[9]

Filmography[link]

• Let's Get Lost (1988), herself

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Bad Girl (1978), RCA
• Venus d'Vinyl (1979), RCA
• Blue Roses (with Man Parrish) (1993), E.S.P.

Singles[link]

• "The Punk" (1977), RCA
• "Liverpool" (1978), RCA Victor - Netherlands only
• "Moonlight" (1979), RCA
• "Fone Sex" (1991), Radikal - with Man Parrish
• "Techno Sex" (1992), Radikal - with Man Parrish

Books[link]

• "Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla" (2010) Chicago Review Press

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Cherry Vanilla at the Internet Movie Database
• Cherry Vanilla at Allmusic
• Cherry Vanilla at punk77.co.uk
• punk77.co.uk, 2006 interview
• punk77.co.uk, 2007 interview

Michael Strahan

Michael Strahan at the Giants' Super Bowl XLII championship parade.
No. 92
Defensive end
Personal information
Date of birth: (1971-11-21) November 21, 1971 (age 40)
Place of birth: Houston, Texas
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Weight: 275 lb (125 kg)
Career information
College: Texas Southern
NFL Draft: 1993 / Round: 2 / Pick: 40
Debuted in 1993 for the New York Giants
Last played in 2007 for the New York Giants
Career history
New York Giants (1993-2007)
Career highlights and awards
2× First-team All-SWAC (1991–1992) 2× SWAC Defensive Player of the Year (1991–1992) First-team AP College-division All-American (1992) 7× Pro Bowl selection (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005) 4× First-Team All-Pro selection (1997, 1998, 2001, 2003) 2× Second-Team All-Pro selection (2002, 2005) Super Bowl XLII champion 2× NFC Champion (2000, 2007) 2001 NFL Defensive Player of the Year 2× NFC Defensive Player of the Year (2001, 2003) NFL Alumni Pass Rusher of the Year (2003) 100 Sacks Club NFL Record 22.5 sacks in single season* (Deacon Jones of the L.A. Rams had 26 sacks in 1967, and 24 in 1968, but a sack was not yet an official NFL stat.) Holds New York Giants franchise record for career sacks (141.5) NFL 2000s All-Decade Team Member of the New York Giants Ring of Honor Ranked 99th by The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players
Career NFL statistics
Tackles 854 Sacks 141.5 Interceptions 4 Stats at NFL.com

Michael Anthony Strahan (pronounced /ˈstreɪhæn/) (born November 21, 1971) is a former National Football League defensive end who played his entire career for the New York Giants, where he set the record for the most sacks in a single season and won a Super Bowl in his final year. He is currently a football analyst on Fox NFL Sunday, and also a host for Pros vs. Joes alongside fellow Fox football analyst Jay Glazer. He also starred in and produced the sitcom Brothers.

Early life[link]

Strahan is 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m). He is the son of Gene and Louise Strahan; nephew of retired pro football player Arthur Strahan. He is the youngest of 6 children. Gene was a major in the U.S. Army, and at the age of 9, Strahan moved to an army base in Mannheim, Germany.^[1] Although Strahan did not begin to play high school football until his senior year in high school, he did play organized football while attending school in Mannheim, Germany, playing linebacker for the Mannheim Redskins in 1985.^[2] The summer before Strahan's senior year of high school, his father sent him to live with his uncle Art in Houston so he could attend Westbury High School. Strahan played one season of football, which was enough for him to get a scholarship offer from Texas Southern University. He then flew back for the spring term to Germany, where he graduated from Mannheim Christian Academy.

College career[link]

Strahan followed in the footsteps of his uncle Art, who also had played defensive end at Texas Southern University. Strahan was so dominant he drew double teams, and TSU coaches dubbed the double teaming "Strahan rules."^[3] By his junior season, Strahan had begun to turn himself into an NFL prospect.^[4] As a senior at Texas Southern, Strahan was selected All-America first team by The Poor Man's Guide to the NFL Draft, The Sheridan Network and the Associated Press, when he recorded 62 tackles with a school-record 19 quarterback sacks and 32 tackles totaling 142 yards in losses. He was also selected Division I-AA Defensive Player of the Year by The Poor Man's Guide. In 1992 he was named 1st team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference and the SWAC's Player of the Year for the 2nd consecutive season. He was also named Black College Defensive Player of the Year. As a junior in 1991, Strahan led the SWAC with 14.5 quarterback sacks. His 41.5 career sacks is a Texas Southern record.^[5]

Awards and honors[link]

• 2× First-team All-SWAC (1991–1992)
• 2× SWAC Defensive Player of the Year (1991–1992)
• First-team AP College-division All-American (1992)

^[5]

Professional career[link]

Strahan was drafted in 1993 in which he would play 9 games due to injuries, keeping him from playing the playoff game that season. After few unremarkable seasons, Strahan would have a breakout year in 1997 in which he would record 14 sacks. For his efforts he was voted into his first Pro Bowl and was also named to the First Team All-Pro by the Associated Press.

Then in 1998, Strahan follows up his success with another double digit sacks season where he would rack up 15 sacks and was voted into his second Pro-Bowl and All-Pro team.

In the 2001 season, Strahan holds the NFL record for sacks in a single season with 22.5 since it was made into an official statistic in 1982 (breaking New York Jets' Mark Gastineau's total of 22).

In 2002, Michael Strahan and the Giants were negotiating a new contract. Strahan turned down a $17 million offer. Strahan's teammate Tiki Barber criticized Strahan as being "greedy."^{[citation needed]}

Few defensive ends in the NFL were more dominant than Strahan from 1997 to 2005. He was named the 2001 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and was a two-time NFC Defensive Player of the Year (in 2001 and 2003). Throughout the greater part of the 2004 season, Strahan was injured with a torn pectoral muscle, which limited him to only 4 sacks. He rebounded in 2005, returning to the Pro Bowl, with his protégé, Osi Umenyiora as the two combined for 26 sacks while anchoring the Giants' defense.

It looked as though Strahan would retire after the 2006 season when he did not report to Giants training camp and missed the entire preseason, but the 14-year veteran opted to return for one final year. On October 23, 2006, with a sack of Drew Bledsoe in a Monday night game against the Dallas Cowboys, Strahan tied Lawrence Taylor for the Giants franchise record for most career sacks with 132½. It was the last sack Strahan would get that season, as two weeks later he suffered a Lisfranc fracture against the Houston Texans and would miss the remainder of the season and the playoffs.

His 15th and final season proved to be the Giants' best season since 1990. On September 30, 2007, he sacked Donovan McNabb from the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football, increasing his career total to 133.5, setting a new franchise record. This total does not include 9½ sacks accrued by Taylor in his rookie season of 1981, the year before sacks became an official NFL statistic. On Sunday February 3, 2008, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Strahan had 2 tackles and 1 sack in Super Bowl XLII, in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Bolstered by a strong defense and unrelenting pass rush, the Giants went on to win the game 17-14, over the then-undefeated 18-0 New England Patriots, giving Strahan his first Super Bowl win as an NFL starter. His saying was "Stomp you out!"

On June 9, 2008, Michael retired from the NFL. He told Jay Glazer of Foxsports.com "It's time, I'm done."^[6] Strahan will become eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame starting in 2013.

Strahan retired with 141.5 career sacks, 794 career tackles, 4 career interceptions, 21 forced fumbles and 2 career touchdowns in 200 games over a 15 year career (through 2007 season). He was also named to the Pro Bowl roster seven times.

Strahan's 2002 record-breaking sack[link]

With Strahan coming free, Packers Quarterback Brett Favre slid down and Strahan fell on top of Favre for an easy sack. After the play, during the ensuing celebration, many of the Giants' defensive players patted Favre on the helmet. At least one observer accused Favre of deliberately falling to ensure that Strahan would get the record.^[7] However, Packers right tackle Mark Tauscher claimed it was just a bad play and "we wanted to avoid that sack."^[8] New York Times columnist Mike Freeman wrote, "Yes, Mr. Favre, Strahan deserves the record, but please, handing it to him the way you did, as if you were throwing change into a Salvation Army bucket, is the kind of mistake Favre may never live down."^[9]

In the media[link]

• An April Fools' Day prank (2006) produced an on-screen brawl with Tom Arnold during an episode of The Best Damn Sports Show Period, in which Strahan allowed Arnold to get the better of him. The two also worked together as judges for the December 7, 2004 contest "America's Craziest Sports Fan" sponsored by MSN.com.
• During the first half of the 2006 NFL season, Strahan appeared in Pizza Hut commercials alongside other notable NFL icons.
• Strahan appeared in a long-running commercial for Right Guard antiperspirant in a comedy role where his foul odor made fans pass out.
• Strahan also appeared in a Snickers commercial. In this commercial, a Dallas Cowboys fan says to Strahan, "Big ole Michael Strahan, you ain't nothin', how 'bout them Cowboys!" A voice-over responds, "Forgetting you're in New York: another unfortunate side-effect of hunger," while Strahan charges toward the rival fan. (An alternate version of this commercial substitutes "impaired judgment" for "forgetting you're in New York".)
• Strahan has appeared in a series of TV commercials for Sports Authority.
• Strahan was the host of the home improvement program Backyard Stadiums on DIY Network, where he and a team of contractors and gardeners lay out sports courses and goals in backyards.^[10]
• On October 8, 2007, Strahan was a special guest during the opening segment of CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer and promoted his new book "Inside the Helmet: Life as a Sunday Afternoon Warrior".
• Strahan was featured on the cover of the final video game of the NFL Blitz series.
• Strahan made a guest appearance on the second season of the NBC primetime show Chuck.
• On June 24, 2008, it was announced that Strahan would be joining the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, alongside Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson.^[11]
• In September 2008, Strahan starred in VIP Like Me, a web series for Snickers.^[12]
• In March 2009, Strahan reportedly used a Lightning GPS Tracker^[13] to keep an eye on his long time girlfriend without her knowledge. Originally covered by the New York Post,^[14] this story was later picked up by various news channels.
• On April 27, 2009, Strahan appeared on Fox News Channel's Hannity to promote Monster.com and the NFL's Director of Fandamonium program.
• Strahan co-stars in the 2009 television sitcom Brothers for Fox.
• Strahan stars in award winning^[15] commercial series for Vaseline Men^[16]
• Strahan along side New York Giants DE Justin Tuck also appears in Subway's 5 Dollar Foot Long commercials.^[17]
• Strahan appeared as a commentator in the April 2010 miniseries America: The Story of Us.
• Strahan does commercials for Dr Pepper. Where he delivers a pizza to Donovan McNabb's house then proceeds to tackle him over a coffee table, after which Donovan's maid serves him a Dr Pepper. The conclusion is a parody of Dr Pepper's "trust me, I'm a doctor" slogan, as Strahan says "trust me, I've sent people to the doctor."
• Strahan did a commercial for CA technologies for their new product Total Defense r12.^[18]
• On October 1, 2010, Strahan co-hosted the top-rated morning program Live with Regis and Kelly alongside Kelly Ripa in Regis' absence. He appeared again as co-host on February 2, 2012, on Live with Kelly.
• In the behind-the-scenes video of NFL Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, Strahan appears as the last football star in the video, stating that Ish will save us all.

Personal life[link]

Strahan resides in Rutherford, New Jersey.^[19]

Through 1996 he was married to Wanda Hutchins in Germany.^[20] They have a daughter Tanita (1992) and son Michael Jr (1995). Michael Sr. moved them to the US and purchased a $163,000 house for them in the same Houston neighborhood as his parents; he pays $2,500 monthly in child support.^[21]

In 1999 he married Jean Muggli of North Dakota. Stories conflict as to whether they met at a 1996 book signing^[22] or at a Manhattan, New York spa.^[23] They have twin daughters Sophia and Isabella (born October 2004). They divorced acrimoniously in 2006. Jean Muggli made an accusation of Strahan videotaping her sister, beating Jean, and repeatedly cheating.^[24] In January 2007 Judge James B Cooney awarded Muggli $15 million in a divorce settlement^[25] in addition to $18,000 monthly child support.^[26] Muggli claimed and testified that their (at the time 20 months old) daughters did “like to be accessorized",^[27] and that “Isabella doesn't like to leave the house without a purse” as the justification for her $22,500 photoshoots, $27,000 clothing bills, and $1,700 in sign language classes. (Neither daughter is hearing impaired.)^[28] With this being more than half of his $22 million assets, Strahan appealed. In March 2007 divorce judge Cooney ordered the mansion to be auctioned and the sales money split evenly with Jean;^[29] the house is valued at $3.6 million.^[30]

In June 2011, Strahan filmed a commercial supporting legalizing same-sex marriage in New York.^[31][32]

Philanthropy[link]

In 2002 he had a multimillion dollar restoration and renovation ^[33] of Georgian Heights, a home built in 1906 at 99 Lloyd Ave, a red brick house with a carriage house and greenhouse that he bought in 2000 for $1.3million.^[34] Before moving in he allowed the Junior League Of Montclair Newark to use his house a model home for its Montclair Junior League show house charity fundraiser.^[35] From May 28–31 the League decorated the mansion, had a 'bare bones' party and a black-tie affair; they also held $25 tours ^[36] to fund Junior League programs called Children At Risk and HomeCorp.^[37] Children At Risk aids children and families ^[35] and HomeCorp is a housing agency that helps low income people achieve home ownership.

"Basically, we're redoing our house to let strangers walk through it for a month," Strahan said. "It's a month-long fundraiser. They'll come in and decorate, paint the walls. They'll hang the curtains, bring in furniture, light fixtures. None of it will be ours. When they're done, if we want something, we get it at cost."

In February 2008, Strahan and Giants teammate Justin Tuck teamed up with Nike to design their own exclusive pair of sneakers for ID studio in New York City. All proceeds of the sneakers were donated to Nike’s Let Me Play global campaign.^[38]

Following the 2007 arrest of Michael Vick on dogfighting charges, Strahan appeared in a televised public service announcement for PETA.^[39]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Michael Strahan on Twitter
• New York Giants bio
• Official Website