Coca-Cola recently released a commercial entitled “It’s Beautiful” that has caused an uproar among Americans on Twitter. The commercial included images of everyday American families while “America the Beautiful” was sung in the background in order to advertise Coke products.
If you ask me, the commercial is not something to get upset about. The reason many people were upset over the commercial was because the song was sung in different languages.
Yet, many people did. They were outraged that the song representing their country was sung in something other than English.
It seems that many Americans have forgotten that while English may be common in their country, the United States is not solely inhabited by English speakers. In fact, America doesn’t have an official language. America is filled with many different kinds of people, who all have their own cultures and languages. Why can’t every one be used to represent their country?
People reacting in such a negative way to the commercial is sending only one message: if you aren’t an English speaker, you don’t belong here.
Why stop there? Why not go even further? That kind of message could branch off into other messages: If you aren’t white, you don’t belong here. If you aren’t privileged, you don’t belong here. If you aren’t like me, you don’t belong here.
Messages like that truly disgust me, as does the fact that my fellow Americans could be so upset over a Coke commercial.
A commercial that I thought was beautiful, by the way.
However, not everyone was upset by the commercial. In fact, many were upset over the fact that so many other people were outraged by it. People on Twitter fought back and shared opinions of their own, opinions that were very similar to mine.
The comments made by supporters of the Coke commercial called out the others on their hatred and intolerance. While I still think it is horrible how negatively some reacted to the commercial, I love how many others flew to its defense.
America is full of all different kinds of people. Why can’t we all be represented?