Evolutionary Dr Pepper ad spurs religious kerfuffle

[1prophet]

Ben Popken, NBC News contributor

Dr Pepper marched directly into controversy a week ago when it launched its “March of Progress” ad campaign. And the uproar has not abated.
On Sept. 13, the soft drink maker posted to its Facebook wall an ad using the classic “March of Progress” image tweaked to promote the “evolution of flavor.” The whimsical ad showed a chimpanzee dragging his knuckles, followed by a semi-erect hominid reaching for a Dr Pepper, followed by a fully upright man walking and gulping a Dr Pepper. The images are captioned “Pre-Pepper,” “Pepper Discovery,” and “Post-Pepper” respectively.



Sounds harmless. Even banal. But about 7,000 comment and nearly 33,000 likes later, the ad is still provoking reaction by creationists who say it promotes the theory of evolution. Some are even threatening to boycott Dr Pepper. That in turn has stoked evolutionists to make counter comments. Then there's folks jumping on the pig pile just for laughs.
After all, we are talking about a soda pop ad, right?



At first, most of the comments on Facebook were lighthearted jokes about the image. A few comments from disappointed Christians began to crop up. Soon an evolution vs. creationism debate dominated the conversation, along with heaps of jeers at anyone taking the issue seriously.
“No we didn't come from apes,” wrote one user. “Lord Jesus pep can be blinded. If we came from apes why is there still apes [sic]”



“This is showing the theory of men evolving from apes I have lost all respect for Dr Pepper,” wrote another, who threatened to use his connections with various colleges to get them to pull Dr Pepper from their schools.



Comments like these prompted cries of “get over it!”, “really?” and, “The day your faith is shaken by a Dr Pepper ad is the day you should probably start reconsidering your faith.”



The debate also blew up on popular link-sharing site Reddit, whose users flooded the thread to mock the outrage and post parody comment, further inflaming the debate and spreading the conversation to their friend's Facebook newsfeeds.

Quick let's call for blasphemy laws, hate speech laws, religious tolerance laws, etc. because someones religion might be offended.:whiste:

 

[SagaLore]

This is very true: “The day your faith is shaken by a Dr Pepper ad is the day you should probably start reconsidering your faith.”

If I were Dr. Pepper, I'd respond with another ad where Eve is pulling a Dr. Pepper off the Tree and handing it to Adam, tagline "It's too good to pass up".

 

[IronWing]

There's subliminal writing in the background of that image. Probably satanic. It says DrP something, sounds like a street drug. Teens will likely commit suicide over it, whatever it says.

 

[rudder]

annoying as these people are... I will take a facebook war over burned embassies and dead ambassadors any day.

 

[Schmide]

FFS it's not Rev Pepper it's Dr Pepper.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

This is very true: “The day your faith is shaken by a Dr Pepper ad is the day you should probably start reconsidering your faith.”

If I were Dr. Pepper, I'd respond with another ad where Eve is pulling a Dr. Pepper off the Tree and handing it to Adam, tagline "It's too good to pass up".

You're my new hero! Brilliant!

 

[SparkyJJO]

As a creationist I simply find that ad amusing more than anything. People need to not get so worked up over something trivial like that

 

[HomerJS]

I thought this kind of stuff doesn't bother Christians?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

I thought this kind of stuff doesn't bother Christians?

Yeah that's probably not a comparison you want to draw as it is a losing proposition.

 

[wirednuts]

this is the most evil as i have ever seen. what a shame. im still buying dr pepper because the image does look cool and not evil.

 

[HomerJS]

Coming tomorrow on Fox News, next chapter about the war on religion.

 

[SheHateMe]

Creationists lose their shit whenever they are reminded how foolish they are.

 

[Matt1970]

Some people are learning, so not so much. Excuse the huffington link again. People should really read this whole article here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/americans-believe-in-creationism_n_1571127.html

Forty six percent Americans believed in creationism, 32 percent believed in theistic evolution and 15 percent believed in evolution without any divine intervention. As the graph below shows, the percent of Americans who believe in creationism has increased slightly by 2 percent over the last 30 years. The percent of Americans who believe in evolution has also increased by 6 percent over the last 30 years while the percent of Americans who believe in theistic evolution has decreased by 6 percent over the same time period.

While Republicans hold the majority on Creationism, it isn't by all that much. 58% Republicans vs 41% Democrats and 39% Independent. That means there are a lot of people from both sides and Independents that will get offended by that Dr. Pepper ad. This may upset my fellow Conservatives but the science behind evolution is hard to deny. That being said, evolution does not disprove the existence of a god and the existence of a god does not disprove evolution.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

How many people will die over this "Facebook" war over this ad or even care or be aware of this "controversy" without media hype? Probably zilch, zero, nada. So keep on with the false equivalency arguments.

 

[dawp]

Some people are learning, so not so much. Excuse the huffington link again. People should really read this whole article here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/americans-believe-in-creationism_n_1571127.html



While Republicans hold the majority on Creationism, it isn't by all that much. 58% Republicans vs 41% Democrats and 39% Independent. That means there are a lot of people from both sides and Independents that will get offended by that Dr. Pepper ad. This may upset my fellow Conservatives but the science behind evolution is hard to deny. That being said, evolution does not disprove the existence of a god and the existence of a god does not disprove evolution.

nor does evolution prove the existence of god. it's called faith for a reason, you don't need proof, which can not be provided.

 

[Dulanic]

Crazy people be crazy.

 

[Dulanic]

This is very true: “The day your faith is shaken by a Dr Pepper ad is the day you should probably start reconsidering your faith.”

If I were Dr. Pepper, I'd respond with another ad where Eve is pulling a Dr. Pepper off the Tree and handing it to Adam, tagline "It's too good to pass up".

Love it

 

[ch33zw1z]

While Republicans hold the majority on Creationism, it isn't by all that much. 58% Republicans vs 41% Democrats and 39% Independent. That means there are a lot of people from both sides and Independents that will get offended by that Dr. Pepper ad. This may upset my fellow Conservatives but the science behind evolution is hard to deny. That being said, evolution does not disprove the existence of a god and the existence of a god does not disprove evolution.

Jesus wept. Jesus continues to weep about all the people so easily shaken and lack real faith.

 

[ichy]

Creationists are the stupidest people on the planet.

 

[cybrsage]

Creationists are the stupidest people on the planet.

Not quite, the only people more stupid are those who believe creationists are the stupidest people on the planet. Those guys take the cake in being stupid.

 

[diesbudt]

This is very true: “The day your faith is shaken by a Dr Pepper ad is the day you should probably start reconsidering your faith.”

If I were Dr. Pepper, I'd respond with another ad where Eve is pulling a Dr. Pepper off the Tree and handing it to Adam, tagline "It's too good to pass up".

100% this.

 

[diesbudt]

nor does evolution prove the existence of god. it's called faith for a reason, you don't need proof, which can not be provided.

There is not enough proof for anyone of the opposite viewpoint for either side.

God could have made everything as it is to make it look like evolution happen, to god just created the world as is, to god created the micro-organisms at the dawn of life on earth knowing they would evolve.

It could be anything, and as you said that is why it is a "belief".

 

[SheHateMe]

Jesus wept. Jesus continues to weep about all the people so easily shaken and lack real faith.

Jesus died a long time ago, buddy. Let it go.

There is not enough proof for anyone of the opposite viewpoint for either side.

God could have made everything as it is to make it look like evolution happen, to god just created the world as is, to god created the micro-organisms at the dawn of life on earth knowing they would evolve.

It could be anything, and as you said that is why it is a "belief".

Evolution is supported by empirical evidence. Creationism is supported by faith. There is a difference.

Saying there isn't enough "proof" to support evolution is silly. There is enough empirical evidence to support it.

The only thing we have that "proves" creationism is the bible and followers' undying persistence to support an oversimplification of our existence based on the words of men who lived over a thousand years ago.

 

[Jaskalas]

*yawn* Nutters go nuts, news at 11. This is America so they're really quite passive compared to other parts of the world.

Oh yeah, nice ad.

 

[SheHateMe]

*yawn* Nutters go nuts, news at 11. This is America so they're really quite passive compared to other parts of the world.

Oh yeah, nice ad.

Dr. Pepper...or Root Beer? GO!