Well, Super Bowl XLVIII has come and gone but the controversy around the ads that air on the halftime show is on full bloom. Take for example the Coca Cola ad that had sweet voiced youngsters singing “America the Beautiful” in a variety of languages.
Honestly, I thought the song and perhaps more importantly, the sentiment behind the song was beautiful; the voices are soothing and beautiful and make me feel all warm and mooshy. So what that it is a Coca Cola ad. It is beautiful.
However, not everyone feels the same way. In fact, there is a twitter hashtag (the language in that hashtag is rather offensive so I will not share it here) that is really taking Coke to task for having “America the Beautiful” song in languages other than English.
Considering that the populations of the USA and Canada, other than the First Nations, are comprised of immigrants, some with more seniority than others, I would have thought the multi-language version of “America is Beautiful” song would have been embraced. Perhaps by some. Not by all.
Thoughts? Would this be an issue in Canada if a song about our country was sung in a variety of languages? Thoughts?