Coca-Cola's 'America the Beautiful' Super Bowl Ad Sparks Outrage
A one-minute Coca-Cola commercial featuring a multilingual rendition of the patriotic song "America the Beautiful" sparked a firestorm of criticism about whether singing the song in different languages was the right thing to do.
Critics have been flocking to Coca-Cola's Facebook page and accuse the company of being unpatriotic, mercenary, and a proponent of immigration reform and one world government.
"Coke really screwed the pooch on this and have really pi**ed me off. Sing any and all of our nationally treasured songs in the language which they were written, ENGLISH. We are certainly a diverse culture, but this has gone way too far. SHAME ON YOU COCA-COLA. Whoever is in charge of your marketing program needs [to be] fired, immediately!!!" wrote Tony Tanner.
Supporters of the commercial, like Anica Davis Bennett, however, felt that it was a great reflection of America's diversity.
"Loved the diversity in the Super Bowl ad. I appreciate your willingness to show that America has a variety of ethnicities that need to be embraced and acknowledged. Good job," she wrote.
Other supporters were not as diplomatic and simply called those who did not like the video "bigots" and "racist."
Critics, however, shot back with a variety of reasons for their disagreement making it a political discussion.
"The distaste in the mouths of so many are not a result of 'xenophobia and bigotry.' But you ignorant lefties already knew that didn't you? This debate won't end with this dopey commercial. The entire forthcoming immigration debate will revolve around this," charged David Brown.
Ryan Textor commented, "This debate is really stupid. I don't even drink Coke due to its high unhealthy factor but America was stolen from the Native Americans by immigrants who partly spoke other languages." He then asked, "Doesn't anyone know the history behind this melting pot we call the U.S.?"
