OPEN LETTER TO DR. PEPPER/SEVEN-UP, INC.
February 2, 2002
Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up, Inc.
P. O. Box 869077
Plano, TX 75086-9077
Ph: 972-673-7867
Dear Sirs:
I am a school teacher. While I was on lunch duty recently,
one of my students, holding a Dr. Pepper can, rushed up to
me. He was very upset as he pointed to the top of the can
where it stated, "One nation...indivisible." He asked, "Why
has 'under God' been left out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
Now I am asking you the same question that my student
asked me.
Last night on the 10:00 news, a TV anchorman reported on
the omission of the words on the Dr. Pepper can. The
reporter said that when questioned about the deletion, Dr.
Pepper said there was not room on the can for the words
"under God" to be included.
Just how unintelligent do you think the American public
really is? The word "indivisible" has 11 letters. "Under God"
only contains 8 letters. If to save space something had to
be deleted, why did you not choose the word "indivisible"
instead of the words you chose to delete?
In actuality, anyone can look at the can and see that there
was plenty of room for your company to include all five
words from that particular section of the Pledge. The ellipsis
marks are spread out widely, and the words "under God"
could easily have been fitted into the designated space
along with the other three words.
Obviously, your company decided to leave out "under God"
for some other reason than lack of space; and that is the
issue which concerns me. If your company chose to quote
from the Pledge of Allegiance, why did you feel it was
necessary to delete the words "under God"? One can only
assume that you decided to cater to those whom you felt
might be offended if you had included those words.
I want to make it very clear that as a God-fearing American,
I am deeply offended that you had the audacity to leave out
the all-important words "under God" from our Pledge of
Allegiance.
Because Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up, Inc. is a direct beneficiary of
the principles set forth in the Pledge of Allegiance, your
company owes it to the children and to the public to
represent the highest ideals of the United States. That does
not include taking it upon yourself to rewrite our country's
Pledge of Allegiance.
I also want you to know that I will encourage the public to
boycott Dr. Pepper until such time as you rethink your
advertising decision. May I remind you that Walt Disney,
AT&T, and K-Mart all chose to ignore boycott efforts; and
now they are reaping the financial consequences of their
decisions.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wayne Garner
236 Cross Country Drive
Hewitt, TX 76643
(254) 666-2798 dggarner@swbell.net
FOLLOWING IS DR. PEPPER'S RESPONSE TO
MRS GARNERS LETTER AS ABOVE.
Date sent: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 19:30:26 -0600
From: Donna Garner
Subject: THE RESPONSE FROM DR. PEPPER
To: Donna Garner
"The Response from Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc."
by Donna Garner
February 5, 2002
In my recent open letter to Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., I
voiced my concern as to why the new Dr. Pepper cans are
marketed with a graphic that says, "One nation...indivisible."
The words "under God" are quite obviously missing; and as
a God-fearing American, I wanted an explanation from the
company as to why they made the decision to rewrite that
part of America's Pledge of Allegiance.
I received Dr. Pepper's e-mail reply today with a message
tacked on at the bottom which says;
"The information in this e-mail and any attachments is
confidential and may be subject to legal professional
privilege. It is intended solely for the attention and use of
the named addressee(s). If you are not the intended
recipient, or person responsible for delivering this
information to the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately. Unless you are the intended recipient
or his/her representative you are not authorized to, and must
not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this message or any
part of it." (By the way, I have quoted directly from Dr.
Pepper's e-mail and am not responsible for the grammar
mistakes.)
I am not a lawyer -- just a humble school teacher; but since
when in the United States can the sender of an e-mail
threaten legal action if the recipient reveals what is in an e-
mail? Am I mistaken, or don't we live in a country where
free speech is a guaranteed right? Because I refuse to be
intimidated by such a warning, I am quoting directly from Dr.
Pepper's e-mail. Please notice that they never explain why
they chose to leave out "under God" since there is plenty of
room on the Dr. Pepper can for all five words, "One nation,
under God, indivisible."
"...Given recent national events, this patriotic packaging was
designed by our Graphics department to reflect our pride in
this country's determination to stand together as one, strong
and indivisible, under any circumstances. The Statue of
Liberty and the Pledge of Allegiance were chosen as two of
the greatest symbols to represent that feeling. We think we
have a message that is resoundingly patriotic, a message
that we are a united nation. We felt 'One Nation ...
Indivisible' best represented the message we were trying to
get across."
This rationale may satisfy Dr. Pepper Corporation, but it
bothers me considerably. To quote from my original letter,
"Because Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up, Inc. is a direct beneficiary
of the principles set forth in the Pledge of Allegiance, your
company owes it to the children and to the public to
represent the highest ideals of the United States. That does
not include taking it upon yourself to rewrite our country's
Pledge of Allegiance."
If you are also a God-fearing American and are offended by
Dr. Pepper's decision to delete the all-important words
"under God" from their cans, please contact
Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up, Inc.
P. O. Box 869077
Plano, TX 75086-9077
Phone 972-673-7867.
Perhaps Dr. Pepper's marketing department needs to know
that we think leaving out the words "under God" was not a
wise decision.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Wayne Garner
236 Cross Country Drive
Hewitt, TX 76643
(254) 666-2798 dggarner@swbell.net
thats fine with me, i wish the government would do as doctor pepper and sepparate from god more often, considering the 2 shouldnt be in bed so to speak.
its a damn soda can!
a soda can!
a pop can!
its just a drink!!!!!
if u need ur soda cans to provide good religious messages or to have god listed on teh can or are offended when the were god is cut off a quote on a soda can pls follow the lemmings.
"Because Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up, Inc. is a direct beneficiary of
the principles set forth in the Pledge of Allegiance, your
company owes it to the children and to the public to
represent the highest ideals of the United States. That does
not include taking it upon yourself to rewrite our country's
Pledge of Allegiance. "
heh, it was quoted correctly i wont say anymore about this quote cuz i'd only flame it
Dr. Pepper dumps "GOD"
i wont say anymore about this quote cuz i'd only flame it
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