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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Coca-Cola ad highlights a xenophobic America

Coca-Cola ad highlights a xenophobic America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443Vy3I0gJs

There’s a definite poetic symmetry that a week after Coca-Cola released its controversial advertisement in the Super Bowl, the country turned its eyes to Sochi to watch the Olympics. If there is one thing the United States does relish, it is the opportunity to prove its patriotism to the rest of the world, especially by brute force. There is a percentage of the population that has taken patriotism too far. The backlash to the Coca-Cola commercial is a stunning example.

Football is considered a great American pastime, and the Super Bowl is its pinnacle. A 30-second commercial during regulation game time costs the companies $4 million, $133,000 per second, because of the sheer quantity of viewership. Coca-Cola’s commercial was worth every penny. After that commercial aired, the den in my dorm erupted with reactions about the potential backlash. For those who may have missed the commercial, it features the song “America the Beautiful” in a multitude of languages and ends with the hashtag “America is Beautiful.”

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There was an immediate Internet explosion, which is one of the fallacies of technology: Immediate access to a vast source of knowledge means immediate access to become a vast source of ignorance. Twitter in particular was all aflutter, calling Coca-Cola communist and a terrorist-supporter for running the advertisement. Others attacked foreigners and, my personal favorite, was #SpeakAmerican. It is my favorite because American isn’t a language, and America is a geographical label that doesn’t only belong to the U.S. but also to an area containing mostly Spanish-speaking countries. The national language of the U.S. is English, a language borrowed and botched from England, but there is no official language.

Despite the U.S.’s apparent ignorance of geography, the real tragedy is the attitude the populace is giving off. When did this country become so xenophobic? When did the motto of the U.S. become conformity? Back when I first learned about the industrial revolution of the U.S., my teacher showed us an illustration entitled “Looking Backward” which ran in 1893. In the foreground, there is a new immigrant trying to cross the bridge into the U.S. but is being impeded by the wealthy businessmen. The striking bit is that behind those aristocrats are the shadows of their relatives who were once that poor immigrant. I can nearly guarantee if you go back far enough those same people criticizing Coca-Cola had relatives that came to the U.S. not speaking a word of English.

What gives me more of a right to call myself American than anymore else? Is it that English is my first language? My grandfathers’ military histories? The color of my skin? How does anything make me any more entitled to call myself American than someone whose first language is Spanish? What makes anybody entitled to decide what parameters constitute an American? Everyone in this country at some point has family that came from somewhere else, people who gave up everything to come here to give their family a better life. Coca-Cola comes out with an advertisement that celebrates the struggle and triumph that has made the U.S. strong and successful to which “true” Americans respond with anger because this doesn’t fit their narrow view of this country.  America was built on the backs of those who came to the U.S. and dared to dream.

It is poetic karma that following that advertisement the world joined together to celebrate its diversity. There is immense talent in this world in every nation, athletic as we see this week, and intellectual. If you carefully read through the Team USA bios, you will find more than one case of a first-generation American. Olympic athletes are the epitome of dedication and hard work and are proudly representing the country that gave them the opportunity to succeed. On the Olympic stage the reaction to Coca-Cola makes Americans look intolerant, ignorant and weak. We appear intolerant and ignorant because we speak before we think about the proud history of America and appear weak because a truly strong country embraces the diversity of its people.

I’m proud to be an American. And I’m proud to be the ancestor of Eastern European immigrants who sacrificed so I would have all the opportunities they didn’t—who dared to dream. And I will work my hardest every day to improve the world we live in because that’s what real Americans do.

Abigail Zemach ([email protected]is a freshman majoring in food science.

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