Many people were apparently pissed off over one of Coke’s commercials during the Super Bowl. Why? People of different ethnicities were singing America the Beautiful in foreign languages. Good grief, how assimilated can you get? If you know America the Beautiful in your native tongue, that’s pretty darn assimilated.
Did the commercial make you angry?
Low information voters, perhaps?
It did make me angry. I was watching it live, and my wife and I spoke about how wrong it was. I knew we’d be hearing more about this, certainly.
America is an English speaking nation. The idea that we should be taking in immigrants who don’t speak English, and building a bilingual society where you click 1 for English, is a bad thing as far as I’m concerned. You want to come here and sing America the Beautiful, do it in English please.
The idea of singing the nation’s national anthem in different languages is intentionally provacative I think. Coke was putting their wang in poeple’s eye with this one as far as I’m concerned.
I told my husband it would make people angry. He said why? It didn’t make either of us angry.
Since Rick doesn’t even know that America The Beautiful isn’t the Nation Anthem (I wish it was) his point isn’t valid.
I had relatives that were born in Pennsylvania in the 1840’s. They grew up speaking German and didn’t learn to speak English until they were in their twenties. There are Amish that were born in Maryland in the 1970’s and who do not speak English to this day. There are Native Americans that are alive today that do not speak English. There are rural Texans, born in Texas in the 1940’s, that do not speak English. There are many American citizens born here that prefer another language to English (San Francisco Chinese for example). You don’t have to speak English to love this country and to aspire to contribute to its greatness.
Very informative comment, BS.
I am completely mystified by this English fetish. It is a foreign tongue, not indigenous to these shores, and was used by one of the many immigrant groups that came here. It has become a kind of lingua franca throughout the world and in this country, and I am glad of that, because I speak only two languages well and English is one of them (it saves me a lot of work when I travel abroad). But, in a nation of immigrants, I see no reason why there should be any aversion to other languages. Every group eventually assimilates (in modern times much faster than was the case when my ancestors emigrated), but one of the great, beautiful things about this country is how we can come here from everywhere and be countrymen, while preserving, sharing, and mixing together many of the traditions from other countries. The bigger problem in this country is the high percentage of the population that has lost capability in their ancestral languages. I really regret that, after three generations of maintaining German fluency, my mother’s family buried that skill set for fear of not seeming assimilated enough.
My big issue with the advert is that Coca-Cola is a completely superfluous, unhealthy product. I hope those delightful kids featured in the commercial are not drinking very much of it.
Coke makes things that aren’t as bad for you. Otherwise, I agree.
I didn’t lose any sleep over it, I liked the commercial. I hope they show it over and over again.
America The Beautiful isn’t the national anthem, stupid. You don’t even know your country’s national anthem ? What’s with you?@Rick Bentley
Starry, Rick isn’t stupid. He misspoke. In fact, Rick is far from stupid.
Civility, por favor. 👿
I’m with Ed Myers on this. And Moon, you shouldn’t be apologizing for Rick. He can just put his big boy pants on and take it on the chin. (Hope that’s civil enough) I saw a comment the day after the Super Bowl where someone said, “Coke just want to sell a lot of its product to a lot of people and they do a pretty good job of it.” As for me, I thought the commercial was spot on as to illustrate ing the diversity of our Nation. My advice–don’t buy any of Coca Cola’s products–buy Pepsi and help support my middle daughter and her family ;-).
I didn’t apologize for Rick I said he wasn’t stupid. It’s the name calling I am trying to discourage. You know, discouraging the hostile blog-place and all that. (unlike some other local blogs)
Buy coke. I own shares.
Perhaps my comment was too cryptic. The reason for Rick’s anger is hinged on his notion that the National Anthem should only be sung in our national language which he undoubtedly thinks is English even though we don’t have a national language.
However the song was not our national anthem which means he was angry because of his misconception. Once he realizes it wasn’t the national anthem, he’ll either no longer be angry (because it didn’t diss our national icons) or have to dig deeper for some other basis for a xenophobic post.
It’s over the top to say that any expression of affection for America is profanity unless spoken in English.
No Super Bowl commercial is launched without large focus group studies. Coke knew this would create buzz by pushing some cultural buttons. It was part of the advertising strategy. I bet the languages selected were data driven, too. The Superbowl is an international marketing opportunity so I expect the languages were of populations with affinity for American brands.
Sorry Moon, I’m still with Ed on this. But must say Ed, Moon’s comment was aimed at Starry I think, but would not presume to speak for her. On the other hand– didn’t apologize for Rick? One thing to say he isn’t stupid, another to say he “misspoke.” I concur with discouraging the name calling but must add: Xenophobia is thy name Rick? C’mon Rick, fess up.
I don’t agree with Rick. I am only saying that he is not stupid or unknowledgeable, he misspoke. I know Rick and have known him from other blogs for about 6-7 years. I would stake my reputation on the fact that he knows what the national anthem is.
Rick and I won’t agree ever, I don’t think, with immigration topics. And yes, my comment was aimed at Starry.
My apolgies for misspeaking. The commercial still makes me somewhat angry. It’s one thing to say that we’re a nation of immigrants and that we welcome new citizens. It’s another to say that we’re a nation of different languages.
I don’t consider myself xenophobic. I have been called that (online). IMO if I’m xenophobic, the vast majority of Americans are also.
@Rick Bentley
Dude, for your sake I hope you never have to spend any time in a place like El Paso or San Antonio. Your head would explode.
I lived through Manassas circa 2007 …
I lived in a Spanish ghetto for a couple of years. Then all the balloon loans went bad, and the 60% of houses on my block that housed 10 or more people were cleared out and foreclosed. My head didn’t literally explode, but I was not happy.
But yes, i lived in a bilingual neighborhood briefly. I had the experience of literally not being able to communicate with my neighbors. Of having to figure out whether it was them who were literally mowing my lawn (badly). Of having to go through various efforts to figure out how to ask them to stop booming music through the walls, from the small child’s room that a grown man was living in, on the other side of my wall.
And the experience of young men leering at my underaged stepdaughter, while speaking to each other in Spanish.
When you live with neighbors who literally can’t talk to you … who are meanwhile working to establish new cultural norms in your neighborhood (late night noise, ad hoc trash disposal, loud music through the walls, leering at underage girls) … when you realize the house next to you is housing 3 separate families … and when after the eventual mass moveout you end up living next to a squatter for several months who on and off breaks the bank’s locks and may or may not be on the other side of your family’s wall …
then you’ll have walked in my shoes, and we’ll see if you’re feeling “xenophobic” enough to think that immigrants should assimilate, not work to form their own subculture.
Immigrants assimilate far more rapidly now that in earlier times, Rick. It’s never overnight, but the American melting pot melts at a higher rate than ever. Language adapts within two generations. In the nineteenth century, when half my family came, assimilation took longer. For better or worse in other areas, mass media and pop culture speed the process considerably.
As I said above (#7), the bigger concern should be how many people completely lose their language capabilities in their original tongues in this country. I’ve seen this happen in one generation time and time again. In a country as crippled as ours in terms of ability to speak other languages, this is an absolute waste.
Don’t call me xenophobic just because I hate those f’ing foreigners. Rick think about the old maxim: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Rick could have communicated with the neighbors using a bilingual child, or written a note in English and had Google Translate convert it to Spanish. He could also take a Spanish course or teach ESL courses to immigrants to support the melting pot.
The leering comment is typical racists code. It reflects the opinion that Mexicans are unworthy of being equal by marrying into a “white” family. It also communicates that Latinos are sexual predators…the same thing used to support misogyny laws in the south.
The building bust here sent immigrants to Texas and the Dakotas. Our economy is lucky to have transient labor that can quickly move to places of need. We are also lucky that immigration has filled the baby boomer demographic hole. Otherwise there would be old age social security panic like in Europe or Japan.
It was a beautiful commercial created by a multinational corporation and an admiration for America. If the state dept could only create a tourism commercial like that – that is still getting attention a full week after the super bowl – success.
Wait, they were singing America the Beutiful? I thought they were signing God Save the Queen the English national anthem – and yes that did piss me off during the Super Bowl
Why I am in moderation is everyone?
Maybe you were naughty in a past life. I don’t remember. Did you change your fake email address?
Yes, that’s it. Any change in email makes it like you are a first time user.
“Rick could have … written a note in English and had Google Translate convert it to Spanish”
I did.
“The leering comment is typical racists code.”
No. The problem there is not about race. It is about :
A. Cultural factors – they do in fact go after girls at a younger age in Central and South American countries than we tend to here. IMO this leering at a 15-year old neighbor is NOT F*CKING COOL. If you want to defend this as multiculturalism in action, you go right ahead.
B. My discomfort at living in a neighborhood where so few of the people in it were identifiable to police – whose real name isn’t even known.
Scout, what I believe is that we should regulate immigration for the benefit of all parties. Let some people in, keep others out based on what’s best for both parties. There’s no shortage of people who want to come in.
That’s the way the system was engineered to operate. We the people expected it to operate that way. We fell into our current messed-up state – everyone seems to agree that the system is ridiculous – through lack of care. It’s only recently that the argument started to take root that anyone and everyone should be allowed to influx.
Didn’t the Duck Dynasty dude say that girls should be married and impregnated at age 14, Rick? Duck an is a hero to Red State America. Good thing he isn’t your neighbor. Chill out and have a Coke, my friend, haha!