I was among the 111 million Americans who watched the Super Bowl last Sunday. When it was all over, I thought that the game, as well as the commercials, had left something to be desired. However, the fallout from a seemingly harmless Coca-Cola commercial more than made up for the game’s lack of excitement.
In case you missed it, Coca-Cola aired a commercial, titled “It’s Beautiful,” that featured scenes of American diversity and multiculturalism with an unusual rendition of “America the Beautiful” playing in the background.
The advertisement was nothing more than a continuation of Coca-Cola’s long-standing “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” ad campaign that has been around since the 1971 Super Bowl. The ad portrayed America in a more realistic light than the typical ad; it depicted America as a melting pot of different races, cultures, beliefs and languages.
While this fact alone may have upset some people, the vast majority of the people opposing the ad seemed to be upset with the commercial’s rendition of “America the Beautiful.” This group includes Glenn Beck, who said on his radio show that the ad’s purpose was “to divide us politically.” The performance certainly was unique — in the commercial, “America the Beautiful” was sung by children in a total of seven languages, including English, Tagalog, Spanish, Hebrew, Hindi, Keres and Senegalese-French.
Others incorrectly argued on Twitter and other social media sites that the commercial’s rendition of the song was an insult because it was not in English, which many believe to be America’s official language. In reality, the United States has never had an official religion, or, more relevantly, an official language. As a nation founded on the ideals of freedom and tolerance, it goes against our very fabric to try to impose either of them on anyone. Therefore, I suggest that those insisting that people speak English in America reflect on their family’s history. Odds are, their ancestors once spoke a different language, too.
Returning to Beck’s point, I believe that it is not the wide range of languages and cultures that divide us as Americans. Rather, we are divided by our differing political views. But it doesn’t have to be that way. After all, we form most of our opinions based on what the media tells us. News pundits from all cable news channels sensationalize stories to increase our level of interest. Worse still, you can hear an entirely different spin on the same news story depending on which channel you tune in to. Given a choice, people will tune in to the channel that reinforces their beliefs, thus leading to the intense polarization that has defined current American politics. If people created their own opinions, the American political landscape would look very different.