Coca-Cola's Super Bowl commercial featuring a multilingual rendition of "America the Beautiful" has sparked both outrage and kudos on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, CNN reported.
Aired on Sunday night, the commercial appears to be a moving tribute to America's diversity, featuring a full minute of ordinary people of different races and ethnicity doing ordinary American activities, as the classic song "America the Beautiful" plays throughout the advertisement.
Then why has it caused such a controversy, you wonder? Well, in addition to English, the song was sung in many different languages. This apparently hasn't gone down well with some people.
According to CNN, Former Rep. Allen West explained why he and others were so upset by the advertisement.
"The last thing any of us should want to see is a balkanized America," he wrote in a blog post on Monday morning. "Furthermore, it has to be of concern that we have Americans who lack the resolve to take a stand for our borders, language, and culture."
West, a Republican from Florida, was not petitioning for a boycott of Coca-Cola products, but argued the song should have been sung in English and showed U.S. military members of diverse races, CNN reported.
"If you truly want to show a diverse commitment to service, sacrifice, and honor that enables us to live in 'America the Beautiful' that would have been rated the best commercial advertisement of the Super Bowl."
The ad also became fodder for the ongoing debate of immigration reform.
Radio host Glenn Beck, however, told his listeners on Monday that the ad is selling a divided America.
"So somebody tweeted last night and said, 'Glenn, what did you think of the Coke ad?,' Beck said in a segment flagged by Buzzfeed.
"And I said, 'Why did you need that to divide us politically?' Because that's all this ad is. It's in your face, and if you don't like it, if you're offended by it, you're a racist. If you do like it, you're for immigration. You're for progress. That's all this is: to divide people."
Coca Cola's brand of cultural inclusiveness was tough for Beck to swallow.
"Every leader of the European Union that tried multiculturalism is now warning America and the rest of the world that tried multiculturalism doesn't work, you have to assimilate," he added.
The Heritage Foundation, a high-profile conservative think-tank, also tweeted out support for the ad Sunday night, CNN reported.
As the debate continued on Monday morning, the term "America the Beautiful" became a trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. as plenty of people joined in to defend the ad and blast those who took issue with it.
People also stood up for part of the ad that showed a gay couple with their daughter. It was apparently the first time a gay family appeared in a Super Bowl ad, according to CNN.
"Including a gay family in this ad is not only a step forward for the advertising industry, but a reflection of the growing majority of Americans from all walks of life who proudly support their LGBT friends, family and neighbors as integral parts of 'America the Beautiful'," said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement.
Peter Shankman, a branding and social media consultant, predicted Monday that the dust-up over the commercial will soon subside, CNN reported.
"The people who are online criticizing it and the racists and the homophobe, and all those-that's going to be gone. They're not going to be talking about this in three weeks. The people that it resonated with are the people who are actually going to spend the money to buy the product," he said on CNN's "New Day."
