Coca-Cola: Ad Shows “The Fabric of American Life”

Ad Featured “America The Beautiful” Sung In Seven Different Languages. Coca-Cola stated in a press release that the commercial featured “people who represent the nation's incredible diversity”:

“For 127 years, Coca-Cola has been proud to be a part of bringing friends and families together while memories are made,” said Katie Bayne, President, North America Brands, Coca-Cola North America. “With 'It's Beautiful,' we are simply showing that America is beautiful, and Coke is for everyone.”

Set to “America the Beautiful” sung in seven different languages, the spot opens to expansive scenes from the West to the Pacific shore to the desert Southwest, interspersed with everyday American neighborhoods, cityscapes and tucked-away cafes. It gives way to a series of snapshots of people who represent the nation's incredible diversity. Together they make up the fabric of American life: brothers enjoying a movie; friends dancing; families dining out and roller-skating; siblings camping and many others. Each moment is about people enjoying themselves and their friends and families -- and an ice-cold Coca-Cola. [BusinessWire, 2/2/14]

Right-Wing Personalities Denounce Ad As The “Road To Perdition,” For “Illegals Crossing The Border”

Fox's Allen West:  Multilingual Ad Signals A Nation On The “Road To Perdition.” Fox News contributor and former Rep. Allen West (R-FL) called the commercial “truly disturbing” and warned the ad was emblematic of a nation that is not “proud enough” in a blog entry on his website:

I am quite sure there may some who appreciated the commercial, but Coca Cola missed the mark in my opinion. If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing “American the Beautiful” in English in a commercial during the Super Bowl, by a company as American as they come -- doggone we are on the road to perdition. This was a truly disturbing commercial for me, what say you? [AllenBWest.com, 2/2/14]

Fox's Todd Starnes: “Coca Cola Is The Official Soft Drink Of Illegals Crossing The Border.” In a series of tweets responding to the commercial, Fox News Radio reporter Todd Starnes mocked the use of other languages and wrote a tweet asking in Spanish: “Dear Coca Cola, is it politically incorrect to sing America the Beautiful in the language it was written in?”:

[Twitter.com, 2/2/14, 2/2/14, 2/2/14, 2/2/14]

Breitbart: Ad Shows Coke Executives Think “America Is No Longer A Nation Ruled by The Constitution And American Traditions.” Conservative blog Breitbart.com argued that conservatives were “outraged” by the ad because it attempted “to push multiculturalism down [our] throats”:

Executives at Coca Cola thought it was a good idea to run a 60 second Super Bowl ad featuring children singing “America the Beautiful” - a deeply Christian patriotic anthem whose theme is unity - in several foreign languages. The ad also prominently features a gay couple.

[...]

As far as the executives at Coca Cola are concerned, however, the United States of America is no longer a nation ruled by the Constitution and American traditions in which English is the language of government. It is not a nation governed in the Anglo-American tradition of liberty. It is instead a nation governed by some all inclusive multi-cultural synthesis of the various forms of government in the world, as expressed by the multiple languages used in the Super Bowl ad to sing a uniquely American hymn that celebrates our heritage. [Breitbart.com, 2/2/2014]

Laura Ingraham Tweets Link To Ad Using #EnglishFirst Hashtag. Right-wing radio host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham tweeted a link to the ad with a message directed at Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), whom she has criticized for supporting some GOP efforts at immigration reform, saying, “But illegals will learn English, right @RepPaulRyan?” Ingraham concluded the tweet with the hashtag #EnglishFirst:

[Twitter, 2/3/14]