Wasting Away Again in Dr Peppersville

Is it a place, a figment of your imagination, a planet, or your home? If you’ve never visited Dr Peppersville it’s difficult to describe. You may even doubt that it exists…and maybe it doesn’t.

To best describe Dr Peppersville, it’s easier to describe what it’s not.

It’s not a Margaritaville.

Margaritaville is a place – bars, restaurants, and hotels found around the world, especially in beach locales – where people of above average intelligence sunbathe, listen to music, blow out their flip-flops, and eat sponge cake, hamburgers, and shrimp, and drink margaritas. And Margaritaville is also a state-of-mind where, if only for a moment or two, a lucky few are able to escape to and live a laid-back lifestyle in a made-up tropical climate where everyone is happy and stress-free and singing “salt, salt, salt,” and raising their margaritas.

Parrotheads vs. Pepperheads.

Parrotheads exist and enjoy attending Buffet concerts wearing grass skirts, coconut bras (the guys), outrageous hats featuring parrots, sharks, and sailors, and consuming liquid refreshments that never include Dr Pepper.
Pepperheads, on the other hand, don’t exist.

It’s not a Mardi Gras Celebration.

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, and although most often associated with New Orleans, the first Mardi Gras in the U.S. was held in Mobile, Alabama. It’s celebrated with parades that are high-energy, high-drinking, skin-bearing, bead-throwing and wearing affairs. Popular Mardi Gras drinks are the Hurricane, Bayou, Zombie, Sazerac, Grasshopper, 57 Chevy, Gin Fizz, and the Mint Julep. Not a one of these has anything to do with Dr Pepper.
The first and last Dr Peppersville Mardi Gras gathering appears to have taken place in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1956.

It’s Not a Super Bowl Party.

No sir or ma’am. A Super Bowl party is loud, and fun, and at times involves the obligatory few minutes of watching an overrated athletic competition. 325 million gallons of beer are drained by Americans on that sanctified Sunday. This beer is accompanied with wings, pizza, cheese, chips, and bacon wrapped weenies.

It’s Not at Your House.

“Hey, stop by and we’ll have a beer,” or “stop by for a Coke.” These are common invitations we often say to friends. “Hey, stop by for a Dr Pepper” is something we’ve never said nor heard. It just doesn’t sound…fun.

It’s not a Quinceanera.

A Quinceanera is a Latin American celebration of a catholic girl’s 15th birthday and is just that…a celebration, making it ineligible to be Dr Peppersville.

So, What or Where Is Dr Peppersville?

Dr Peppersville is very personal and is different for each person who claims to have found it. From what I can tell, it’s sometimes found at a long and very structured business meeting held on a Friday afternoon. Others bear testimony to have found Dr Peppersville at their church (and only at their church). Still others say they found their Dr Peppersville at a non-alcoholic mixer for singles still in college and older than 37.

One man has claimed that he found the true and only Dr Peppersville, but it was in Siberia and he couldn’t find anyone willing to go and verify his story.

So, there you go, while some claim to have found Dr. Peppersville, most still consider it a figment of some lonely imaginations.

What Do They Drink in Dr Peppersville?

Although Dr Pepper has 23 flavors, when you think of a soda mixed drink, rum and coke is the preferred mixture. One brave Pepper has openly stated that he enjoys his rum more when mixed with Dr Pepper. Even though it hasn’t caught on, I guess it’s possible. I mean, anything is possible.
Another Pepper claims to love the Dirty Dr Pepper Cocktail. This cocktail is said to taste exactly like Dr. Pepper but is actually made with a combination of liqueurs and Coca-Cola. How about that? A Dr Pepper cocktail that doesn’t use Dr Pepper. That says a lot, doesn’t it?

Dr Peppersville Recruitment Efforts.

Their most blatant attempt at increasing membership was launched in 1977 with the famous “Be a Pepper” campaign. According to those who claim to know, a Pepper is a person who loves Dr Pepper and will gain entry to Dr Peppersville. Their enrollment campaign was built around these lyrics:
I drink Dr Pepper and I’m proud.
I’m part of an original crowd.
And If you look around these days there seems to be Dr Pepper craze.
I’m a pepper, he’s a pepper, she’s a pepper, wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?

You can see that to gain acceptance, they’re not just trying to normalize being a Pepper they’re saying Peppers are proud. Was it successful? Well, they used this song until 1982 when they changed their tactics to “Dr Pepper Made a Pepper Out of Me.” So, yes, it apparently was successful.