Coke Ad - America the Beautiful

I also find it amusing that the woman who penned the words to America the Beautiful was a lesbian. Classic!!!

Loved it!
What cracks me up is that "English" is not the native language of THIS country..

I also know that most of the people I know that trace their ancestors to other countries can usually speak a bit of that language.

French, German, Mexican, Welsh, Korean, Chinese
So I do not understand why people got their drawers in such a wad.

Oh and I also loved the Radio Shack commercial also..

There aren't sides. There are just haters out there who FORGET (or don't care) that America was made by people with different languages coming here.

I've told the same joke as you. Americans just look ignorant and ridiculous when they fight about other languages being spoken here. And SO closed-minded.

i think it proves that the country must be on the right track and moving forward briskly. why else would something that inoffensive have so many people riled up?
:D
i'm especially amused by the '*&^ our national athem has been desecrated!!@##$$$$%*&' comments (not here, out *there*.)
if people want 'america the beautiful' to be sung in its 'own language' they should learn navajo, ya know?
khairete
S.

I thought it was a beautiful commercial (as far as commercials go) to celebrate the diversity of America! We are a melting pot of many faiths, languages, and families. It should be celebrated.
I was floored when I saw that there was a "backlash" of sorts from people. Really? Those people have nothing better to do with their time.
What I LOVED was the Cheerio commercial. There was a big ol' bruhaha last year about a mixed race couple last year and Cheerios stuck by their commercial. This year they used the same couple....and threw in a pregnant mama. Loved it.
L.
ADDED- REally Kade? Ridiculous. You are raising your daughter to be closed minded and maybe even a touch racist. Hmmm....now I know why it is still rampant in this country. The fact that you don't teach your daughter to accept everyone...whether or not they speak English kind of kills me a little. I am not unpatriotic because I support others who speak more than one language (i speak two...fluently!) mayeb *I* am MORE patriotic because I understand what this country is supposed to be. A welcome place to ANYone...not just English speakers. Blech.

I thought it was a lovely commercial, it really spoke to what America really is.

I got really kind of mad at some of the posts I saw floating around Facebook about it. It was not just the racism and bigotry I saw (and ignorance, I saw several people claim it was the national anthem they were singing), but the ones that pissed me off the most were all the ones about how it was disrespectful to soldiers and veterans, or how they did not sign up to protect that. BULL. That is exactly what I, and my husband, signed up to protect. We signed up to protect all Americans, not just the white english speaking ones, and I take offense to people claiming to speak for Vets when their heart if full of hate, it makes us all look bad. Most military members I know (and I know a lot) liked the commercial.

And for anyone claiming it was "unpatriotic", that is just stupid. It was more patriotic then if it had been in English only because it celebrated the truth of what America is, and was always intended to be, a place for all peoples to share together in brotherhood, and where we could embrace our differences. We were founded on the ideals of freedom, which is a huge part of the reason we don't have a national language. And I hope anyone saying everyone should just learn english knows a second language and is fluent in it. It is not so easy to just learn a new language, that is exactly why official business type items like driver license tests should be offered in 14 different languages, even if someone can hold a conversation in english they still think in their native tongue so it is only right to let them test in that language. It is not like they have to have copies of all these papers laying around, everything is on computer these days so getting another language is just the click of a button.

Let me add that as a military family we spend 10 years living overseas, and other countries actually do go out of their way to accommodate english speaking travelers. In Japan the workers at the airport even wear a special red blazer to indicate who speaks english. So all this talk about others not accommodating us is simply untrue.

I was not thrilled. If you come to America for all that is has to offer, learn the language and sing our songs in English. Just my opinion.

I agree with you. Don't understand what all of the outrage is about.

ETA: it was a COMMERCIAL for Coke. It's THEIZr business. Literally. They want EVERYONE to buy COKE. Coke promotes itself as "American" -- Hence the song choice. Baseball, apple pie...all that jazz. It makes GOOD business sense for coke as a brand to be INclusive.
Did someone really suggest that previous immigrants came here simy to "be American" - not for jobs? Interesting....

Original:

Loved it.
Love anything INclusive.

Mostly laughing my A$$ off at the "outrage of the coke commercial where the national anthem isn't in English." Can't put a price on that special kind of stupidity, right!?

Navajo! I know Suz T!!!

ETA: it was written by Katharine Lee Bates, a lesbian feminist who spoke out against greed. All the more ironic!

I'm an advocate of English only for conducting official business. I don't see why traffic signs, tax forms, etc. should have to be printed in fourteen different languages.
But learning English for the purpose of conducting official business doesn't mean that you should have your native tongue wiped from your memory and never speak it again.
One of my favorite hymns is "Amazing Grace," originally written in English. My favorite version of it is sung in Cajun French.
When people who speak multiple languages speak of things they love, of things they hold dear, of things that are close to their hearts, they generally do so in their mother tongue because it's the one with which they are most intimately acquainted, and in which they can best express nuances of emotion.
Singing "America the Beautiful" in a language ther than English isn't disrespectful - it's just the opposite. It's linking where you came from to where you are. It's a bridge, not a border.

My FIL could sing that song in English, Arabic and Turkish if he wanted to. I admire people who know multiple languages, and especially those who took a risk to leave their home country to make a better life for their family in the US.

I read about the controversy last night. Seriously. everyone picks a piece to be upset about. Get over it. Yes, you have a right to your opinion. But that is YOUR opinion. Don't force it on everyone else.

I did not watch the Super Bowl, saw commercials by looking them up. And I liked this one. I thought it was great to include different languages and cultures since the US is made of different cultures whether you like it or not.

Loved the ad. Made me almost sorry I don't drink soda. Almost as good as the I'd like to teach the world to sing one.

LOVE the joke and plan to share it. Thanks.

Thanks too for pointing out, quite rightly, that "The Star Spangled Banner" uses for its melody a song penned in 1778 as a drinking song used by a men's social club in London. Yep, its original lyrics were pretty racy for the time. I wonder if the folks who don't like their national anthem sung in other languages also will get all in a snit and want to dump its music when they find out it wasn't written by some true-blue States-born American as a sacred and solemn hymn to America?

Those are folks with too much time on their hands and too much self-importance.

I didn't like it. Yep, I admit it. Didn't like it. Was I offended? No. Will I stop buying Coke? No. I just think that the advertisers were trying to make a point and I think it was silly.

I agree with you completely, and I love your joke! :)

I love this joke!!! When I lived in Europe, it was sooo on the mark, it wasn't even funny...thank God I'm not one of "those" Americans!!

Any way - I'm a Coke fan - heck my kitchen is Coca-Cola themed....not sure what the outrage is. It was a commercial. I know many were upset that a "Patriotic" song was sung in other languages....

Oh well. You will NEVER EVER make everyone happy.

I would love to see them redo the commercial using some of the languages of immigrants who first settled America--German, Russian, Swedish, Finnish, Gaelic, Yiddish, Norwegian, French, Spanish, Chinese, etc. Throw in some Cherokee, Ojibwa, Lakota, and other Native American languages. I bet you would hear the exact same criticisms from the exact same people.

My uncle made a good point. Most of the immigrants in America know more than one language. English is sometimes a 3rd or 4th language for them. That makes them more intelligent then those of us who only speak one language. And if you have ever tried to learn a new language, it is tough and not something you can learn overnight. I've never felt more stupid then when I had a 2nd grade little girl who just could NOT believe that I ONLY spoke ONE language. She spoke three--Chinese, French, and English. She spoke all three fluently.

One of the best comments I have seen on the issue was that many of those who are most upset about the commercial would probably have their heads explode if they knew that the woman who wrote America the Beautiful is a lesbian.

As a side note, one of the most beautiful renditions I have ever heard of The Star Spangled Banner was not it English. It was in Lakota.

I liked it. I like pepsi, though. LOL

It's called a "nontroversy" - a fake controversy/or non-controversy-worthy thing that's spun by political parties to rile people up.

AZneomom - I'd pay good money to see that video in multiple languages!!

The comment that people keep making about English not being the official language is pretty silly and weak. I believe that anyone who takes pride in coming here to be an American would learn English. Period. I'm so impressed by those who do, and so disappointed in those who don't.

I wouldn't say I'm outraged or offended, probably won't stop buying coke. But I thought the commercial was dumb, didn't finish watching it. My daughter (13) thought it was 'rude and stupid'. That was the vibe at our house, but we didn't give it any thought beyond that. We're used to this by now and don't waste time getting upset by those who are unpatriotic.

My first thought when I saw it was "Well played for scandal, Coke!"

The commercial was fine. Not splendidly done-I felt it was purposely exploiting the very easy process of enraging the racists and bigots in the country with the Muslims and the gay dads and the foreign languages during the biggest football game in 'Merricka. They should have added some windmills and solar panels and melting ice caps and starving polar bears and people throwing guns into incinerators for good measure while they were at it. So I couldn't help suspecting their massive marketing department was banking on a scandal with the American song sung in "foreign tongues" AAAH RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

BUT, since I am a person who takes no pride in the fact that most white Americans speak only one language, and I wish foreign languages were taught in our schools in preschool and kindergarten instead of high school, and I would encourage my kids to learn America the Beautiful in as many languages as possible, I thought the commercial was perfectly OK. I also loved the 70's one as a kid. I do agree with those saying the different races seemed separate in it- which was probably an oversight or lack of creativity, the whole thing was a bit amateurish, but still, it was nice and pretty.

I love immigrants and people of all races. I did not mind the commercial.

****Kade, your 13 year old child thought it was "rude and stupid" ? Woah.

Imagine the knicker-twisting if it had been "I'm Proud to Be an American..."
...ou au moins je sais que je suis libre!
****Ack!!! Flames bursting from keyboard!!!!****

I think both Coke and Cheerios are doing a great job manipulating us into duking it out over commercials rather than addressing some of the real issues about their companies, like Coke's abysmal history on labor and the environment. Cheerios says now that Cheerios won't have GMOs but General Mills overall has made no such promise.

Now liberals who were fighting these things have jumped on their bandwagon and been distracted from their battle by spatting with conservatives.

I think it sounded beautiful, but I do understand why people are upset.

My job is working with foreign militaries. I have to take training upon training to make sure I am in tune with their cultures when I go to their country. Fortunately, I have not had to travel internationally for work yet, but I still take the training.

I guess for me, I don't really have an opinion either way. Like I said, it was beautiful, but I get why people are upset...though I am not.

I also find it ridiculous that there are sides. The way that I viewed the ad was that it was a series of linguistically separated groups singing a song about our country. Although I was born in NJ, to English speaking parents, I speak three languages fluently and am proficient in two others - and have lived abroad in two other countries for extensive periods of time. The offensive part to me is the implication of the separation of the groups and that our country should celebrate these divisions.

We have been called a melting pot for ages. However, until recently, immigrants did come here because they wanted to be Americans - not just because the economic opportunities were better than in their homeland. Now it seems they come for the jobs but then want to turn our country into whatever they left behind - including those who would wish that Sharia law be applied in the U.S. A perfect example of this is the Cubans who are here and still waiting for "Next Year in Cuba".

As I said, I have lived overseas and travelled to all of the continents except Antarctica. In doing so, I have had to conduct my business in the language or languages of those countries. But I was never offered any government forms in my native language. It was expected that I was either proficient enough to conduct my business in that language or I would find someone to interpret for me.

I live in Fort Lauderdale - about 25 miles north of Miami, FL. Our ballots are enormous because they are printed in English, Spanish and Creole. Really, if you are a citizen and want to exercise your right to vote then learn enough English to be able to vote in it.

When I go to the DMV, the drivers license booklets are offered in 20 languages. That is ridiculous and a huge waste of money.

Even many of the things that my son brings home from public school are bi or tri-lingual. Our school board holds public input meetings in English, Creole and Spanish. Again - big waste of my taxpaying dollars.

Our public, taxpayer funded, hospitals have their materials 18 languages. This costs a ton!

I don't care what anyone speaks at home, or socially. But I am tired of the amount of waste created by translating everything for everyone and I am also tired of the divisions created by separating linguistically. Many of the churches are divided with members only knowing those that go to the service in their native language. My point is that we are becoming more and more divided while claiming that it is a celebration of diversity. This so-called celebration is divisive and causing separation rather than leading to the inclusion that it seems most of those commenting would like to see as an end goal.

Think about it. C.

Haven't seen the commercial. I actually do see both sides. In theory, I think it was probably beautiful to have America the Beautiful sung in other languages.

I also understand the point of view that says it should be sung in English but do think they are taking it too personal. I believe that stems from the fact that everything that has made America what it is, is now expected to change because of those who have come here wanting a better life but now complain about "American ways".

When we Americans travel or especially move to other countries, we don't expect those countries to accommodate our language and customs but it seems that everyone who flocks to our shore (including those who do so to escape how bad their country and/or conditions were) now want to change America to be like their country instead.

I do not think singing America the Beautiful is an example of that but I do think that is why some people are so strongly opposed.

I really don't pay that close attention to ads.

Didn't like the commercial. It was too choppy, imo. It was like the video didn't match the tempo of the song. Disappointing.

It was also soooo obviously an effort to cause a stir, not just with the different languages. It worked. Great marketing.
Just a little surprised they felt the need to stoop to that kind of stuff (stirring the pot) to get attention.