Last night’s Super Bowl found Americans of all colors and creed huddled around the television set watching the evening’s festivities.
And while the Seattle Seahawks were trouncing the old guards of the gridiron, there was quite an outrage brewing across social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl XLVIII television ad, titled “It’s Beautiful,” featured Americans of different ethnicities singing “America the Beautiful” in eight languages.
As you can see in the clip below, the spot was meant to showcase America’s storied diversity.
Unfortunately, the Super Bowl ad quickly sparked online discussions about what and who is an “American”. Many took umbrage with the multinational beverage company “screwing up a beautiful song,” according to one Facebook commenter. Another wrote, “Speak English or go home.”
The Coca-Cola ad showcased an ideal America, full of beautiful, bright, charismatic colors from the brown, white, straight, gay, young and old palette stream. With unified voices paying homage to their own origins, while staying true to “America the Beautiful,” the beverage company managed to create a compelling look at how many hope life could be in the U.S. But, if the Bill O’Reilly / President Obama pre-Super Bowl chat is any indication of how America really is, it’s telling that nothing of peaceful merit will bring us together in celebration.
In this country, America the Melting Pot, English is not the sole official language. In Any City, U.S.A., these same intonations are used to sell wares, create businesses, or even hail public transportation. The outrage from a nation who fails to realize that its history was built on the backs of others who did not “speak the de facto national language” will inherit the ignorance they’ve founded.
