One of the best ways to make an ad viewed and talked about by larger number of people is to make it controversial. The Dr Pepper brand has posted a new visual to its Facebook page—actually, quite a conventional one,—which ignited a lot of buzz in the comments. The ad titled “Evolution of Flavour” actually depicts an evolution of a man, featuring three stages of a human’s development: Pre-Pepper (an ape), Pepper Discovery (a cave man), and Post-Pepper (a man as he is now). This approach has been used numerous times in all kinds of visuals, but this time it turned to bee really offensive for some fans of the Dr Pepper page.

Photo: Dr Pepper’s “Evolution of Flavour” ad on Facebook, www.facebook.com/DrPepper

The ad, which was posted around 15 hours ago, generated over 23,300 likes and 3,000 comments, most of which are revolving around the religious theme. Some users have been offended by the Dr Pepper theory of the human evolution, noting that it was God, not the drink, who created a man, while others are responding this theosophical vision. The religious theme is probably the most debatable one, but it doesn’t seem like Dr Pepper has touched on it on purpose. Still, the effect is grandiose.

Dr Pepper got in the middle of scandal in 2010, when its youth-oriented “What’s the worst that could happen…?” campaign turned to be a disaster after a sexually implicit message was found there by a parent. Earlier this year, Kraft Foods’ Oreo brand also sparkled a fierce debate and got a lot of negative comments after posting an ad featuring an Oreo cookie with six colourful cream layers, which symbolized the LGTB flag.