It’s Beautiful: Coca-Cola’s TV Commercial at the Super Bowl Sparks Various Reactions

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilxRtxqYWt0[/youtube]

People had been anticipating the debut of new TV commercials of various products during the coverage of the Super Bowl. One that stood out was the new Coca-Cola commercial entitled “It’s Beautiful,” featuring adults and children singing “America the Beautiful” in different languages. The one-minute Coca-Cola ad made such an impression, causing the popular social media sites to be very busy with posts of the different reactions generated by the ad, many of them not positive.

America the Beautiful

The TV commercial itself is beautifully done, with people from different cultures enjoying a good day, children and adults playing and laughing. It is just a celebration of family and life. The song is patriotic. It is America the Beautiful. However, many thought that it was the national anthem of the United States. It is not. The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem. America the Beautiful is sung during the Fourth of July celebration and in some occasions, in church. Some schools sing it during baccalaureate, commencement and convocation events.

Multiple reactions

Right after the Coca-Cola commercial ad aired, there were immediate reactions on Twitter because of the ad’s content. The reactions were diverse. Some hated it, some loved it and some thanked the company for recognizing that America is a melting pot of races. Twitter almost became a courtroom with people debating and discussing about the English language, the intention of Coca-Cola to bring people of different cultures together. Coca-Cola is a global company that always espouses the idea that people, no matter where they come from, whatever their skin color is and whatever language they speak should be united, should be sharing with one another. In that respect, the Coca-Cola ad is a classic example of this belief, of celebrating diversity and life.

One of the reasons why there was an immediate adverse reaction was because people mistook the song, America the Beautiful, as the national anthem of the United States. Others say it should be sung in English, which they think is the national language, which would be very appropriate to the very American event, the Super Bowl. Others react to the inclusion of the gay dad couple. Some people reacted strongly to the ad which showed the models singing the song in different languages in succession.

Many used their Internet skills and brought out evidence. In the website of USA.gov it is stated that the United States does not have an official language. Some states however use English as their official language.

Languages featured

The Coca-Cola ad featured Senegalese-French, Keres, Filipino, English, Spanish, Hebrew and Hindi languages. Some reacted positively to the ad, saying that English is actually a foreign language in the U.S. Those well-versed in American history pointed out that the original language spoken in America is not one but hundreds of Native American languages. Others were even quick to point out that most people living in the United States are not pure Americans unless they descended from a Native American race. Therefore most of the people in the U.S. are from immigrant races.

Whatever the reactions from people might be, the Coca-Cola ad became one of the most-searched and most talked-about commercial from the Super Bowl this year.