The Super Bowl is always an exciting day of the year for Americans. Even if you’re one of those people who have not a clue what’s going on in the game, there’s still a lot of potential to have a good time. If all else fails, there’s always snacks and beer to get at.
Except this year, no one seemed to really enjoy anything about the Super Bowl, especially the game (obviously). But another huge letdown was the commercials.
They just weren’t very good. After watching some of them I either had no idea what product was being advertised, or I just flat out didn’t even understand what I had just seen. Most weren’t funny and even the “good” ones were just emotional or dramatic.
Perhaps the most controversial one out of the whole batch was Coca-Cola’s multilingual rendition of America the Beautiful.
When I saw it, I thought nothing much of it other than that it was was cute, patriotic and that I kind of wanted a Cherry Coke.
The commercial was one minute long and featured the song being sung in seven different languages, including English, Spanish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Hindi, Keres, and Senegalese-French.
“It’s Beautiful,” as the ad was named, portrayed scenes depicting the lives of everyday Americans across the country, many of which (surprise!) do not speak English.
Coca-Cola’s central goal was to articulate in a creative way that one of the things that makes this country beautiful is its diversity.
What makes this country beautiful is that people from all over the world can come here with their respective cultures, religions, traditions, families and friends. They can learn new things and work hard for enjoyable lives, just like you or I.
The point was that even though we’re a diverse country, we’re still united, and that’s what is beautiful about living here. Simple enough.
The commercial instead instigated a national uproar, which is actually just downright disgusting.
The angry tweets poured in and covered everything from “We only speak English, idiots- go home” to “Why are terrorists singing an American song?”
Turns out that this is a country of ignorant, intolerant individuals, though it is sadly not surprising.
I honestly don’t know what’s worse, the fact that some people see all other countries as terrorists or the misunderstanding that English is the only possible language that can be spoken on this ground. What?
Coca-Cola has been doing their thing here for 127 years, portraying American families and friends enjoying cold sodas and making memories together. Nothing has changed. They’re still doing just that.
Coke products are for everybody, not just white people. It’s 2014. Let’s be real. I can’t believe I’m even saying this.
The United States doesn’t even have an official language. It’s a mix of different cultures and languages. I don’t know, maybe our education should require more history classes.
Every single person in that commercial sang praise to America. Isn’t that what we want as citizens of this country?
What’s un-American to me is all of the detestation towards this simple advertisement.