Dr. Pepper Wants Men To Drink Its Low-Cal Soda So Badly It Tells Women To Stay Away

NEW YORK (AP) — Dudes don't drink diet.

Or at least that's the idea behind Dr Pepper Ten, a 10-calorie soft drink Dr Pepper Snapple Group is rolling out on Monday with a macho ad campaign that proclaims "It's not for women." The soft drink was developed after the company's research found that men shy away from diet drinks that aren't perceived as "manly" enough.

To appeal to men, Dr Pepper made its Ten drink 180 degrees different than Diet Dr Pepper. It has calories and sugar unlike its diet counterpart. Instead of the dainty tan bubbles on the diet can, Ten will be wrapped in gunmetal grey packaging with silver bullets. And while Diet Dr Pepper's marketing is women-friendly, the ad campaign for Ten goes out of its way to eschew women.

For instance, there's a Dr Pepper Ten Facebook page for men only. And TV commercials are heavy on the machismo, including one spot that shows muscular men in the jungle battling snakes and bad guys and appear to shoot lasers at each other.

"Hey ladies. Enjoying the film? Of course not. Because this is our movie and this is our soda," a man says as he attempts to pour the soda into a glass during a bumpy ATV ride. "You can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We're good."

Dr Pepper Ten is not the first diet soda aimed at men. (Think: Coke Zero and Pepsi Max.) But Dr Pepper Ten's ad campaign is the first to be so overt about courting men who want to drink a soda with fewer calories. The ads come at a time when overall sales in the $74 billon soft drink industry are slowing as more Americans buy healthier options like juice and bottled water. Volume has fallen from slightly over 10 billion cases in 2005 to 9.4 billion cases in 2010, according to Beverage Digest data.

"Regular sugared soft drinks have declined in recent years, and some consumers have taste issues with some of the diet sodas," said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.

Dr Pepper said men, in particular, are dissatisfied with the taste and image of diet drinks. The company wouldn't disclose the formula of Dr Pepper Ten, but said that the drink has 10 calories and 2 grams of sugar, which gives it a sweeter taste. Dr Pepper said there are 23 flavors in its regular soda, (which has 150 calories and 27 grams of sugar per can) and Dr Pepper Ten contains all of them.

The company, which declined to give figures for how much was spent on the campaign, also worked hard to craft a macho message. The company said ads for Dr Pepper Ten will air on all major networks, FX and ESPN during college football games.

A Facebook page for the drink contains an application that allows it to exclude women from viewing content, which includes games and videos aimed at being "manly." For instance, there's a shooting gallery where you shoot things like high heels and lipstick, for example. There is also a "man quiz" with questions on activities like fishing and hunting.

Whether the ads will resonate with men remains to be seen. Paul McDonald, 25, who works in green energy contracts in Berkley, Calif., says he drinks soda labeled "diet" and doesn't think there is any stigma attached.

"No one has ever made fun of me for drinking a Diet Coke, and I'm on a rugby team we make fun of each other for everything," he said.

And women? Jim Trebilcock, executive vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper, said he's not worried that they'll be offended by the campaign. The drink and marketing were tested in six different markets across the country before being rolled out nationally, and women weren't offended, he said. In fact, about 40 percent of people who have tried the soda so far are women.

"Women get the joke," he said. "'Is this really for men or really for women?' is a way to start the conversation that can spread and get people engaged in the product."

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LEAKED MEMO: Jerry Yang Tells Yahoos The Company Is For Sale (YHOO)

After Yahoo fired CEO Carol Bartz, cofounder Jerry Yang told employees that the company had not begun a sales process.

Since then, reports here and elsewhere have suggested that is a bunch of malarkey and that Yahoo's board is very much putting the company up for sale.

Today, Yang copped to as much in a company-wide memo.

In it he says that Yahoo has hired investment bank Allen & Company to help it field "inquiries from multiple parties that have already expressed interest in a number of potential options."

The memo:

Dear Yahoos:

In our recent all hands meeting, we talked about the Board’s strategic review to help return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. While our teams are working to evaluate the many opportunities by which Yahoo! can continue building on our success, all kinds of people have been – and will continue – speculating in the media about where that work is headed, so we thought it best to provide you with some additional context directly from those of us who are closest to it.  We don’t have specific news to share with you today, but we are committed to communicating with you directly from time to time – especially given the level of external swirl – so that you know where we are in the process. You can expect periodic updates from us and we encourage you to communicate with us as well.

At the heart of what we are doing is our belief that Yahoo!’s core strengths are not only relevant to where users are going today, but can serve as a foundation for the next phase of our company’s growth. Consider our strengths: we have 680 million users worldwide. We have nine of the #1 properties in the U.S., and we are a leader in display advertising. Our brand is iconic – we are not the only ones who bleed purple. By whatever measure you want to use – engagement, quality of products and services, our value to our advertisers – we all feel that we have what it takes to succeed. Also, our Asia assets remain one of our top priorities and we continue to work well with the teams there. As you may have seen, Alibaba Group has just announced a liquidity event for its employees that reflects a continued appreciation in its value, and therefore of the value of our stake.

What Yahoo! needs to do better – and we’ve talked about this – is accelerate innovation, reignite inspiration, and give our users what they want now – great content that is engaging and easy-to-use on any device and provides an experience in which they can participate and contribute. Perhaps most importantly, we need to anticipate what they will want next. That is the path to enhancing the value of Yahoo! for all of its stakeholders, including its users, customers, shareholders, partners and Yahoos everywhere. Our strategic review is designed to help us map out the best way to achieve that.

At this point, we cannot offer many specifics about the Board’s review; we’ve just gotten started. You should know that the entire Board and management team are fully aligned and unanimous in their views regarding the scope of this work. Allen & Company was a logical choice to help us in this review, because they have been one of our advisers for some time, and this is familiar territory for them. Achieving success in our sector is intrinsic to what they do for a living, and they will be constructive partners.

Our advisers are working with us to develop ideas that we will pursue proactively.  At the same time, they are fielding inquiries from multiple parties that have already expressed interest in a number of potential options. We will take the time we need to select and structure the best approach for the company, its shareholders and employees.

In addition, as we announced previously, the Board has commenced a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer. That process also continues.

When we have updates that we can share we will do so. There will be plenty of rumors and speculation as different parties try to advance their agendas in the media – but it is important that we not be distracted by the rumors and speculation.

You are instrumental to the success of our business – we can’t do it without you. While we will move with a sense of urgency, this process will take time. Months, not weeks. We know that’s a lot of potential distraction, but we believe it will be worth the wait. We are forging a path to a next phase of growth for Yahoo! that feels like our best days: fun, full of possibility, and always in search of how to deliver the new thing people want from us. Together, we can write the next great chapter in the Yahoo! story and secure our place as one of those rarities: an internet company that endures.

Jerry                           Roy                         David

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Perry Tells Time Magazine: "I'll Be Better Every Day"

The Gov is on the cov.

Rick Perry comes out swinging in an exclusive interview in the new issue of Time magazine, which hits newsstands tomorrow. Perry sat down with the magazine's editor, Rick Stengel, and Mark Halperin, its editor at large and senior political analyst; he was photographed for the cover by Platon in a tight close-up.

Portions of the interview are now online, but we've culled a few choice excerpts:

On the Obama administration:

"I still believe they are socialist."

On the "provocative language" of his campaign thus far:

"There may be someone who is an established Republican who circulates in the cocktail circuit that would find some of my rhetoric to be inflammatory or what have you, but I’m really talking to the American citizen out there. I think American citizens are just tired of this political correctness and politicians who are tiptoeing around important issues."

On Social Security:

"I don’t get particularly concerned that I need to back off from my factual statement that Social Security, as it is structured today, is broken. If you want to call it a Ponzi scheme, if you want to say it’s a criminal enterprise, if you just want to say it’s broken –they all get to the same point."

On the prospect of a border fence:

"I do not agree that building a 1,800-mile barrier is thoughtful. It’s an easy answer. I think it’s a cop out for anyone who’s actually been on the border. It’s like building a wall from Bangor, Maine to Miami, Florida."

On how he's faring as a first-time national candidate:

"I suspect I’ll be better everyday."

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Texas A&M Tells The Big 12 That It Plans To Withdraw From The Conference

The New York Times is reporting that Texas A&M has sent a letter to the chairman of the Big 12 Conference, formally announcing its intention to withdraw from the league.

The final decision could come as early as Tuesday.

Rumors had been swirling for weeks that the school was looking to jump to the Southeastern Conference, though no formal invitation had been extended.

However, it's unlikely that A&M would take such a dramatic step announcing its plans, unless they were reasonably confident that the SEC was waiting to accept them.

The Aggies will also have to negotiate an exit fee with the Big 12, which could be more than $15 million. The conference reportedly sent the school a letter on Monday, spelling out what they believe the school's legal and financial obligations are to the league.

If the move is successful, A&M's transfer threatens to upset the fragile balance of college sports once again.

The Big 12 was already reduced to 10 teams during last year's conference shake up that saw Nebraska move to the Big 10 (giving them 12 teams), while Colorado and Utah joined the Pac 10.

The addition of A&M would also give the SEC an uneven number of schools, which could inevitably lead to them adding a 14th school. (And possibly a 15th and 16th. Clemson, Missouri, Florida State and Virginia Tech have all been floated as possible additions.)

A&M's move is believed to be a response to formation of the Longhorn Network, a 24-hour cable channel devoted to just one school -- arch rival Texas. The money brought in by the TV network (via ESPN) would be seem to be too big an advantage for one team to have.

Also, the loss of Nebraska means the Big 12 cannot hold a conference championship game any more. Plus, the Big 12 does not distribute bowl payouts evenly among all conference members the way the SEC does (which also bring in more bowl money in the first place.) Financially, it's a move that some A&M supporters feel they have to make.

The withdrawal could lead to more falling dominoes that could potentially kill the Big 12 forever. As long as Texas and Oklahoma remain committed, the conference could survive in some form, perhaps by bringing in new blood in schools like TCU, BYU and Boise State.

However, if Oklahoma decides it doesn't like the Longhorn Network so much either, or simply feels that the writing is on the wall for the Big 12's demise, the league may soon evaporate for good.

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