Originally created as a headache medicine containing cocaine, this nectar of the gods was soon stripped of the stuff that made it green (namely, cocaine) and filled with aritfical colors and sweetners that made it's carbonated tooth-rotting powers delicious and appealing to many!
Fast forward 100ish years and some dim-witted marketing department came up with what they thought to be a brilliant idea. With 30-second Super Bowl advertising slots costing upwards of $4 Million, the company affectionatly known as Coke decided to spend an entire MINUTE depicting satisfied consumers enjoying their product. Out with the sex-appeal! Out with the hasty generalizations! Out with the literary devices!
And so, my friends, this 1-minute advertisement for Coca Cola was born. (http://youtu.be/A8iM73E6JP8)
And now, a whole bunch of conservative whitey tighties are in a wad (because, let's face it, if conservatives were a type of underwear, they'd be whitey tighties or granny panties - I researched it). They accuse you of BLASPHEMY against America the Beautiful!
How dare they sing it in languages other than English! English is the only language ever to be spoken on this soil! How dare they depict inter-racial or bi-racial families! There is no way that would ever happen here! There are yarmukles and hijabs and cowboy hats... But Christianity is the only religion allowed in this Nation! And that sweet family with two daddies at the end... THAT scarred me so deeply that the unfertilized eggs of my ovaries wept.
Come on, people. Pick your wedgie already. It was a patriotic song and refreshingly un-sexualized footage of people enjoying life, not blowing each others' heads off and all getting along. It depicted it's consumer base (old, young, white, black, Middle-Eastern, Muslim, Jewish, gay, straight, single, coupled...) and was generally uplifiting. But you're sitting here ripping it apart because they showed you the diverse reality of America that you choose to ignore? Pardon my French, (because this is America and we only speak English here) but that's your own damn problem.
So, Coca Cola... You should have stayed within the safe confines of white, middle-class, Christian, heterosexual males, who are generally depicted in all advertisements. Because now that you acknowledged that other people exist, you're brand is going to be boycotted by One Million Moms. And it's going to crumble to the ground, just like JCPenny. Take it from Ellen, you just can't be successful if you keep advertising with your true consumer base. Nobody wants to see that.
America. The only country in the world where people freak out about skincolor, religious symbols and sexuality in advertising more than the fact that they spent BILLIONS of dollars on a stupid game, while children in our homes were hungry, dirty, and without shelter.
If we're arguing about this commercial, we're missing the point. We are all different and all unique. But we are still united. United as a nation, sharing our inter-woven and richly complex lives. And it is a beautiful thing.
