What's the Problem with Coke's 'America the Beautiful' Ad?

Global American brand Coca-Cola graced Sunday’s anti-climactic Super Bowl with this ad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443Vy3I0gJs

Just about anything can provoke an online reaction these days, and some viewers weren’t happy with Coke’s ad.

It was that last aspect that unfortunately, brought out America the Ugly, at least on some parts of the Internet. “WTF?” asked one post on Twitter. “@CocaCola has America the Beautiful being sung in different languages in a #SuperBowl commercial? We speak ENGLISH here, IDIOTS.” Some of the vitriol may have been satire for all I know, but there was much too much for that to explain all of the “English or GTFO” sentiment–not all of it in impeccable English itself. To wit: “Dear @CocaCola : America the beautiful is sang in English. Piss off. #DontFuckWithUs.” (To be fair, not every Tweet brought up by a search on “Coca Cola English” agreed: “Coca Cola brings the commercial of the night: America the Beautiful sung in Spanish, English, Arabic, and other languages. Beautiful.”)

It probably wasn’t the best ad of the game. Budweiser’s “puppy love” ad may have been, but it’s all subjective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB7QRyF4p4

This Bud ad probably drew out some tears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7L5QByvXOQ

This Chrysler ad was probably the clearest recording ever made of Bob Dylan’s voice. It’s also 2 minutes that feel like an hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlSn8Isv-3M

But getting back to Coke’s “America the Beautiful” ad, apparently some people think you can’t be patriotic if you don’t speak English as your first language. English isn’t the only language spoken in my own home. Does that mean that we’re somehow less patriotic?

To me, Coke’s ad says the same thing that the Statue of Liberty says — you can become American no matter where you’re from. America the idea is beautiful. It’s not bound or limited by the fact that English is the dominant language here. It’s a powerful idea. America is the anti-tribal, anti-ethnic origins nation.

English probably should be our official language for the purposes of official government business and to unify us along a basic language standard. Also, to save the government money in operating costs. Immigrants should be assimilated and Americanized, as they once were, though many immigrants come here and learn a deeper appreciation for the freedoms to be found here than many of us who were born here, because we take it for granted. The fact is, proficiency in a land’s dominant language is just about mandatory if one wants to get anywhere in life. If you move to France, learn French. If you move to Spain, learn Spanish. If you come to the United States, learn English. We should have an orderly process for legal immigration that serves America’s interests, secures our borders, and keeps threats out. Immigration shouldn’t be politicized, but we’re far beyond that now. The problem we have now is that our current government doesn’t defend the value of American citizenship, and politics are cracking common sense. President Obama can’t be trusted to implement any changes to immigration law well, or fairly. Just look at how he has sold and is running Obamacare. Coke’s ad wasn’t a comment on any of that, though.

Last night’s Coke Super Bowl ad was nothing new. It wasn’t a direct or indirect commentary on government or immigration (there was an embedded comment on gay marriage in it, though, but that’s not a language thing). Coke has been sounding a similar theme since at least 1971.