People Lose Their Minds Over Dr Pepper Facebook Ad

• Dr Pepper

It’s (not exactly) official, people will lose their minds over anything on the internet. Case-in-point: The nearly 7,000(!) comments on a recent Dr Pepper ad, seen above.

Apparently, a number of folks whose beliefs run counter to the theory of evolution are deeply, deeply offended — and willing to say so in front of the entire internet. One Facebook user wrote “Im never drinking this junk again,” while another wrote “Just lost my business! As an avid drinker of Dr. Pepper, I can assuredly say that I would never drink Dr. Pepper ever again. If they think their soda’s are good enough to make people forget their faith, they are simply fooling themselves.”

The soft drink company seems to have a great deal more fans of this ad than detractors, though; a number of Facebook users came out in force to challenge what people were writing, while others decided to just laugh at it. “I’m a full time pastor. I love Dr. Pepper. I have both a sense of humor and the ability to not blow every little thing out of proportion. If this offends you, I invite you to turn off you computer, grow up, and stop giving Christians a bad name. Thanks in advance.”

And, of course, some people just want to watch the world burn: “There is no mention of this ‘Dr. Pepper’ in the Bible. Obviously another lie spread by these so called ‘scientists’ and the liberal media elite. My God drinks Pepsi and so do I!”

AdWeek’s AdFreak blog summed the issue up pretty succinctly: “Once again, though, it goes to show how protests can spread like wildfire in social media, where outrage—and counteroutrage—are just a click away.”

This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2012.