It's Beautiful

During the 2014 Superbowl, avid sports fans and other "once a year" fans tuned in to watch the Denver Broncos take a beating from the Seattle Seahawks. More important than the game this year were the commercials, pricing at roughly $4 million dollars for 30 seconds of TV time. This year marked the first year that there was a gay family in the Superbowl commercials. Additionally, the majority of commercials that were aired incorporated diverse races and ethnicities. The most controversial company to take this approach was Coca Cola.

For starters, Coca Cola made a ballsy decision to incorporate a gay family, but that wasn't all that Coca Cola did... The overarching goal of the commercial was to show that America is diverse and we are still united in this melting pot that we call home. Their approach failed. Instead of showing that we are a diverse country, they sang it. More specifically, America the Beautiful was sung in 8 different languages. This created an uproar. One Twitter user responded to the ad by saying "Hey @CocaCola This is America. English, please." Another user tweeted the following:

 

Honestly, I think that Laura Ingraham has a very valid point. Creating this commercial promotes being bilingual and still having the same love for America. I think that the one thing that every American should have in common is the English language that we speak. If we aren't all obligated to speak English, it takes away from the unity that we pride ourselves on. 

One critic mentioned that the commercial would have been much more heartwarming and touching if America the Beautiful was sung by U.S. military members of diverse races. I mean, two lines of the song say:

"O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife

Till all success be nobleness"

To me, nothing screams hero more than a member of the military, and nothing is nobler than putting the lives others before your own life, which is what members of the military do on a daily basis.  That being said, I think using diverse military members instead of singing in a different language would have had a more powerful effect.

I think that Coca Cola approached the ad the wrong way, but they certainly did get attention, so maybe their goal was accomplished? Not only did they incorporate a gay family, but also showed how diverse America is. They are reaching into new uncharted territory and it will take time for critics to get used to this.