The Coca-Cola Super Bowl Ad
We’re wasting political energy on an ad that was supposed to bring us closer together.
As soon as the Coca-Cola ad was aired, this Sunday during the Big Game, my wife turned toward me and said, “Get ready for the immigration haters to jump on this one.” I was taken a back at how quickly this ad was portrayed as a political statement although in our politically charged and divided nation, how could it not. I quickly threw out a rebuttal stating that yes, there would be a few idiots but this won’t stoke the fires of the political crowd. Boy was I wrong.
On the political fence you’ll only find me hanging out on the right side. Politically, I’d classify myself as a Conservative-Libertarian. Not a Democrat, not really a Republican as far as the Republican Party stands today. On the whole immigration debate I think both sides are in it for the wrong reasons and simply I think we need to promote legal immigration better and make it easier while at the same time protecting our borders and keeping up with people here on visa’s as much as possible.
To me, this ad didn’t touch on any of this. It was an ad showing how much people from all cultures feel about the U.S.; let’s not start the debate about America being several countries and 2 continents. So what’s all the backlash being thrown at Coca-Cola for?
From what I’ve gathered by reading posts on Facebook — okay be careful taking people’s opinions from the internet — and from listening to this morning’s talk radio show; most people are offended because they used a patriotic song and had people sing it in many languages. Not just that but I also hear a feeling that we’re promoting an immigrant culture of exclusion and not a melting pot where people rightly assimilate into the U.S. culture.
I didn’t feel that having people sing the song in their native language was in anyway a dis to the song. Quite the opposite in fact; I was mostly amazed that no matter what language you speak you know that the U.S. is a beautiful and special country. That’s the way I feel about our country and that’s the way I would hope everyone feels no matter their background.
I’m more sympathetic to the point of groups and people pushing for immigrants to not assimilate into the U.S. the way people used to. I do think it’s important that you start trying to learn English as soon as possible, not because your language scares me or because English is the best and easiest language in the world. No, I want you to learn English because otherwise you’ll never be self-dependent and you’ll have to rely on people to truthfully interpret things to you. Things like our Bill of Rights. Things like our Constitution. Things like our basic laws. If you don’t speak or read the language of the country as a whole then it’s more difficult for you to succeed, and I want everyone to succeed. But, taking this point and pushing it into a commercial meant to inspire people and bring people together seems a bit off. All the Facebook comments and Twitter posts with a negative attitude towards others don’t help either.
We as conservatives often talk about how we can reach out and spread our message to more people but when all we can come up with is negativity toward something that was meant to inspire, we’re not doing our jobs. Take the ad for what it is, something that’s supposed to make you feel good and in return feel good about a product they’re trying to sell you. Don’t be so quick to be cynical about an underlying meaning. Coca-Cola doesn’t have the power to change our immigration laws. That power comes from Washington and if we were all doing our jobs, that power really comes from us.
