This was a lovely tribute to our diverse and rich population, as American as it gets. I snarked at it a bit only because I gave up all soft drinks about a year ago as part of living a healthier lifestyle, but I still loved the message.
Online, it didn't play well with right wingers. Before the commercial was done, tweets were flying by admonishing all that if one is going to sing America the Beautiful, they damn well better do it in English. Here are a few samples:
Let's lead it off with Fox News:
Coca Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border. #americaisbeautiful
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 3, 2014
Then moving on to the real 'Mericans
Not a fan of the CocaCola commercial. America The Beautiful should not be sang in any other language other than English. Sorry not sorry.
— BudLightBro ™ (@BudLightBro) February 3, 2014
@CocaCola American Patriotic songs should be sung in English only #communist #boycottcoke
— John D. Calamia (@jdcalamia) February 3, 2014
Taking a break from tweets to share Allen West's trip down the road to perdition:
I am quite sure there may some who appreciated the commercial, but Coca Cola missed the mark in my opinion. If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing “American the Beautiful” in English in a commercial during the Super Bowl, by a company as American as they come — doggone we are on the road to perdition. This was a truly disturbing commercial for me, what say you?
Back to the tweet parade:
Too bad there were no Americans in the coke commercial about America.. Goodbye Diet Coke never again! #BoycottCoke
— Michael J. Damoci (@oneshot5997) February 3, 2014
Excuse me bartender, I'll have a jack and Pepsi. If you put a splash of coke in it I will throw it in your face #BoycottCoke
— Machine Gun Jetski (@Canadahhhhh) February 3, 2014
#BoycottCoke everything in that @CocaCola commercial was un-American.
— Steven McVeigh (@SMcVeigh_) February 3, 2014
Unlike the game itself, this particular campaign did not go unanswered:
Looking forward to RNC banning Coca-Cola products at 2016 Convention.
— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) February 3, 2014
Those who hated the Coke ad unanimously loved the Budweiser ad. Here it is. See if you can find anyone in it who isn't white.