Let's Keep America Beautiful

By James Mendez

University of North Texas

Mayborn School of Journalism

Last semester I took an advertising class and for our final group project we were asked to discuss a brand that we felt had a major influence on Americans. With that in mind, we decided to look into the Coca-Cola brand. What we found is that not only is Coke a major influencer in America, but that the Coke brand has an influence worldwide. 

This was recently brought to light in the recent Coca-Cola super bowl ad. The advertisement, entitled “America Is Beautiful,” shows a diverse group of Americans engaging in everyday activities.

I will admit that the first time I saw the ad the volume was on mute, however the ad seemed totally normal. To me, Coca-Cola was showing how diverse of a country America truly is. It gave me a sense of community. The term “one love” came to mind and for a minute I felt as though America was actually taking a step in the right direction when it came to the acceptance of different races.

Then I checked my Twitter feed. I was dumbfounded to find so many hate-filled tweets such as…

Via Mediaite

This definitely threw me off and after reading through over a dozen disgusting tweets, I went back and watched the ad with the volume to see what the fuss was all about.

What I discovered was that the Coca-Cola ad featured the song, “America The Beautiful” which was sung in eight different languages. While the ad itself did not shock me, the level of ignorance in America today did.

People were outraged that Coca-Cola would defame such a beautiful American song by having it sung in different languages when the fact remains that each and every American either came from another country or is the descendent of someone who did.

Today, America is a cultural melting pot. We are a bilingual and bicultural country who, more often than not, prides itself on being accepting of others. To see so many people speak out so negatively about the commercial truly upset me.

While I can understand why some people are upset about the song being sung in different languages, I can not understand why people have to react in such a hateful way.

I totally back Coca-Cola and their decision to go through with the ad. America has come a long way over the past 60 years when it comes to race relations; lets continue to take steps forward and not backward.