Anbyone else offended by the Coke commercial

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I think this is an interesting move by Coke honestly. I'm not offended by this ad, but I can see why some might be, and perhaps they're drawing conclusions that drift too far from what the ad was meant to show.

At the same time, it's hard to ignore that there's multiple ways Coke could've done the ad.

For example:

- Coca Cola could've shown people from all over the world singing an international song. Perhaps the World Cup song? Or since this is the NFL, they could've all been singing some NFL-related song.

- Coca Cola could've shown Americans of different ethnic backgrounds singing America the Beautiful all in English (same footage, different vocals).

- And then there's the ad as it was.

If you play through those 3 different ads, they show something entirely different. It's not hard to see why some people feel differently about the ad, but certainly "#SpeakAmerican" isn't an appropriate response. I'm not saying Coca Cola should've done it differently, but it's slight nuances that can evoke different emotions.

 

[Tango]

I think this is an interesting move by Coke honestly. I'm not offended by this ad, but I can see why some might be, and perhaps they're drawing conclusions that drift too far from what the ad was meant to show.

At the same time, it's hard to ignore that there's multiple ways Coke could've done the ad.

For example:

- Coca Cola could've shown people from all over the world singing an international song. Perhaps the World Cup song? Or since this is the NFL, they could've all been singing some NFL-related song.

- Coca Cola could've shown Americans of different ethnic backgrounds singing America the Beautiful all in English (same footage, different vocals).

- And then there's the ad as it was.

If you play through those 3 different ads, they show something entirely different. It's not hard to see why some people feel differently about the ad, but certainly "#SpeakAmerican" isn't an appropriate response. I'm not saying Coca Cola should've done it differently, but it's slight nuances that can evoke different emotions.

But those would have had a different message.

More than 800 languages are spoken in New York City alone. It is one of the greatest strengths of the nation, as well as one of the things that originally fascinated me the most when I first moved to NYC.

People of different ethnic background all singing in English do not portray this great cultural diversity. A different skin color does not give you a different culture, but a different language does.

It was a celebration of America, very fitting for a quintessentially American event as the Super Bowl.

 

[Geosurface]

More than 800 languages are spoken in New York City alone. It is one of the greatest strengths of the nation

How so?

First of all, NYC themselves seem to say it's about 170 languages, not 800+ but regardless... in what way does it make NYC stronger for tons of languages to be spoken there? I guess maybe it makes it easier to find a translator when you need one... but it is also the reason you'd need one in the first place.

Is Sydney in deep shit?

"The most common languages spoken at home are English (the sole language of 60.8%) of the population, Arabic (spoken by 4.4%), Cantonese (3.4%), Mandarin (2.6%), Greek (2.2%) and Vietnamese (2.0%)."

Is Tokyo?

"The Japanese society of Yamato people is linguistically homogeneous"

I dunno, it seems to me like there are a lot of cities around the planet where one language absolutely dominates and any presence of other languages is minimal, and almost everyone who speaks them speaks the primary language too. I feel like these cities are doing alright.

Unless you can point out to me the crippling effects of insufficient diversity they're suffering?

 

[They Live]

And you don't consider being a society that had to deal with issues of segregation, slavery, civil rights, Jim Crow, lynchings, etc to have been a set back?

We had to deal with those atrocities thanks to southern social conservatives who defined stupidity.

 

[Geosurface]

Uhh, no. America was not homogeneous at all.

Okay pal.

I love this leftist double standard mechanism with regard to these sorts of issues. Right now it's more convenient for you to act like white people are an imaginary social construct and that a 90% white America was "not homogeneous at all."

Alright.

I just note the fact that the same people who say that sort of thing, in other contexts, have absolutely no problem identifying who is white when it comes time to say the GOP is too white, or congress is too white or a police force is too white or a school, or a class for gifted kids, or the cast of a play, or most of all when it comes time to target the dread white privilege.

No problem identifying what white people are at those times. When arguing with someone making the kind of arguments I'm making, however, suddenly whiteness is much more confusing and unclear.

Similarly, if I were to be talking with 99.99% of leftists today about diversity in our nation and they said "we really need more diversity in such and such and in the country as a whole" and then I said "what? no way! this country was super diverse back in the 1950's! We had Germans, Italians, Irish, English, French, you name it!"

I think you and I both know they wouldn't agree that that represented diversity. It only represents diversity when doing so is seen as a good way to undermine someone else's point.

 

[They Live]

Okay pal.

I love this leftist double standard mechanism with regard to these sorts of issues. Right now it's more convenient for you to act like white people are an imaginary social construct and that a 90% white America was "not homogeneous at all."

Alright.

I just note the fact that the same people who say that sort of thing, in other contexts, have absolutely no problem identifying who is white when it comes time to say the GOP is too white, or congress is too white or a police force is too white or a school, or a class for gifted kids, or the cast of a play, or most of all when it comes time to target the dread white privilege.

No problem identifying what white people are at those times. When arguing with someone making the kind of arguments I'm making, however, suddenly whiteness is much more confusing and unclear.

Similarly, if I were to be talking with 99.99% of leftists today about diversity in our nation and they said "we really need more diversity in such and such and in the country as a whole" and then I said "what? no way! this country was super diverse back in the 1950's! We had Germans, Italians, Irish, English, French, you name it!"

I think you and I both know they wouldn't agree that that represented diversity. It only represents diversity when doing so is seen as a good way to undermine someone else's point.

So, basically your argument is, as long as you have white skin, you have either the exact same culture and beliefs as other whites, or if not exactly the same, very similar?

 

[They Live]

C'mon, be serious. Don't try to turn a legitimate concern about the health and future of our society into some clownish parody so that you can feel safe in ignoring the fact that this could actually be a divisive trajectory we're on.

Nobody's talking about sending anyone away.

I'm talking about taking notice of human nature and which societies around the globe are successful, in setting our immigration and social policy. I believe they should be calculated to maintain the society, not radically alter it.

As recently as 1964 the US had an immigration policy deliberately set up to maintain a European majority and the country was about 90% European ancestry at that point. Not that long ago, and not some crazy notion to have immigration policy like that. Unless of course you believe that 1964 America was some sort of Nazi racist hellscape of unimaginable horror.

I don't know if he was serious or not, but it was a legitimate question.

It's clear you feel America isn't homogeneous enough right now, so what would be your solution to fix what you consider to be a problem?

 

[Fenixgoon]

i saw that people were getting all pissed about the commercial, so i decided to watch it.

clearly, people need to get some goddamn skin. the whole point is that EVERYONE enjoys coke (take your pick of which one ) regardless of race, culture, or creed.

 

[Geosurface]

So, basically your argument is, as long as you have white skin, you have either the exact same culture and beliefs as other whites, or if not exactly the same, very similar?

My argument is that western societies, which are pretty much all engaging in massive demographic changes simultaneously, might be behaving somewhat rashly in doing so. The reason I feel this may be the case is the history of our species to have conflict between groups.

I fully understand that many of those conflicts have been between groups which were genetically rather close to one another, and were based on other dividing lines like religion, and culture. Keep in mind that those are included in the modern conception of "diversity" anyway.

In other words, I feel that diversity tends to lead to disharmony and conflict. I feel that the more different the groups are which are trying to share a living space, and the more numerous these groups are, the higher the probability of conflict and the greater the severity.

I could be wrong, I actually hope I am.

I don't know if he was serious or not, but it was a legitimate question.

It's clear you feel America isn't homogeneous enough right now, so what would be your solution to fix what you consider to be a problem?

I've already said I'm in favor of limiting immigration substantially compared to our current policy.

i saw that people were getting all pissed about the commercial, so i decided to watch it.

clearly, people need to get some goddamn skin. the whole point is that EVERYONE enjoys coke (take your pick of which one ;-)) regardless of race, culture, or creed.

Which actually would be a great message if everyone was saying "We love Coca-Cola" in their respective languages. The reason some people were rubbed the wrong way by the way the commercial was done, is that it seemed to be a shot across the bow of any notion that America has a culture of its own, rather than just being a landmass where other cultures come stake out some territory.

 

[spittledip]

You guys are taking this all too seriously. The ad is just something meant to sell a product. Coke doesn't care about any of the things you are talking about. They just want to make money.

 

[KMFJD]

that sang 'America The Beautiful' in different languages? I took a little offence to it. It's great that we are a melting pot but we need an official language once and for all and be done with it. People refusal to adopt the language causes problems on sop many levels. We can't staff every single 911 center with someone that speaks every single language and start putting up road signs in every language.

 

[Vic]

Okay pal.

I love this leftist double standard mechanism with regard to these sorts of issues. Right now it's more convenient for you to act like white people are an imaginary social construct and that a 90% white America was "not homogeneous at all."

Alright.

I just note the fact that the same people who say that sort of thing, in other contexts, have absolutely no problem identifying who is white when it comes time to say the GOP is too white, or congress is too white or a police force is too white or a school, or a class for gifted kids, or the cast of a play, or most of all when it comes time to target the dread white privilege.

No problem identifying what white people are at those times. When arguing with someone making the kind of arguments I'm making, however, suddenly whiteness is much more confusing and unclear.

Similarly, if I were to be talking with 99.99% of leftists today about diversity in our nation and they said "we really need more diversity in such and such and in the country as a whole" and then I said "what? no way! this country was super diverse back in the 1950's! We had Germans, Italians, Irish, English, French, you name it!"

I think you and I both know they wouldn't agree that that represented diversity. It only represents diversity when doing so is seen as a good way to undermine someone else's point.

Those groups absolutely did think that represented diversity at that time. America the great melting pot. Your argument is almost as silly as this outrage over a fairly typical Coke commercial.

 

[WHAMPOM]

NO DOGS
NO BLACKS
NO IRISH
No singing "America The Beautiful" in harmonious diverse languages.

Alright, I got the message, all the above go together! kkk

 

[Geosurface]

Those groups absolutely did think that represented diversity at that time. America the great melting pot. Your argument is almost as silly as this outrage over a fairly typical Coke commercial.

You don't think it's possible for a person or a society to be naive and incorrectly predict that assimilation of one group will be impossible or absurdly difficult, only to find out later it wasn't... and yet to actually be correct about it in another instance?

I guess a comparison I could make would be just because you said 5 minutes ago "Oh there's no way I can clear that pole vault height" and then you did it anyway, doesn't mean that when I raise it another 6 feet and you say the same thing, that you are wrong again.

Some obstacles being surmountable does not preclude others being insurmountable.

 

[UberNeuman]

You don't think it's possible for a person or a society to be naive and incorrectly predict that assimilation of one group will be impossible or absurdly difficult, only to find out later it wasn't... and yet to actually be correct about it in another instance?

I guess a comparison I could make would be just because you said 5 minutes ago "Oh there's no way I can clear that pole vault height" and then you did it anyway, doesn't mean that when I raise it another 6 feet and you say the same thing, that you are wrong again.

Some obstacles being surmountable does not preclude others being insurmountable.

Easy, dear... You're tripping over your hood....

 

[Scooby Doo]

Where's that Cup Of Rage meme when you need it? LOL

 

[Geosurface]

Easy, dear... You're tripping over your hood....

Yep, yep... I know... thinking that the US's pre-1965 immigration policy, which was calculated to maintain a European culture and demographic make-up was a safer strategy for the health of the country than what we have now instantly makes you a full on goose-stepping, sieg heiling, cross-burning Hitler-KKK type.

That is a completely reasonable way for an adult to discuss issues like this. Well done.

Next time I hear anyone express doubts about undertaking a massive change in their nation's demographics, I will probably swing by their house to make sure they're not building a gas chamber in their back yard or anything.

 

[UberNeuman]

Yep, yep... I know... thinking that the US's pre-1965 immigration policy, which was calculated to maintain a European culture and demographic make-up was a safer strategy for the health of the country than what we have now instantly makes you a full on goose-stepping, sieg heiling, cross-burning Hitler-KKK type.

That is a completely reasonable way for an adult to discuss issues like this. Well done.

Next time I hear anyone express doubts about undertaking a massive change in their nation's demographics, I will probably swing by their house to make sure they're not building a gas chamber in their back yard or anything.

You are human garbage, sir. Your behavior in the Trayvon Martin thread solidified it for me it long ago...

 

[Geosurface]

You are human garbage, sir. Your behavior in the Trayvon Martin thread solidified it for me it long ago...

My "behavior" in that thread pretty much consisted of a lot of in depth, analytical (and long-winded) posts about why I felt it was Zimmerman screaming rather than Trayvon, or how I thought the witnesses and physical evidence supported his version of events, etc. At one point a long time ago I made a joke in the style of a choose your own adventure to show what other choices Trayvon had besides resorting to violence, and I know DVC hated it but the majority of responses to it were positive and people by and large seemed to find it funny. It could be argued it was in poor taste, but it was fairly tame.

Not entirely sure how any of that establishes me as "human garbage" but I have a hunch your feeling in that regard is more based on stuff I've said in other threads. Like this one.

Was every Native American who was concerned about the influx of Europeans onto this continent human garbage for having those concerns? Would a Japanese man who worries about the idea of throwing open their borders be human garbage?

Or are these sorts of misgivings and concerns only verboten for the pale face?

 

[UberNeuman]

My "behavior" in that thread pretty much consisted of a lot of in depth, analytical (and long-winded) posts about why I felt it was Zimmerman screaming rather than Trayvon, or how I thought the witnesses and physical evidence supported his version of events, etc. At one point a long time ago I made a joke in the style of a choose your own adventure to show what other choices Trayvon had besides resorting to violence, and I know DVC hated it but the majority of responses to it were positive and people by and large seemed to find it funny. It could be argued it was in poor taste, but it was fairly tame.

Not entirely sure how any of that establishes me as "human garbage" but I have a hunch your feeling in that regard is more based on stuff I've said in other threads. Like this one.

Was every Native American who was concerned about the influx of Europeans onto this continent human garbage for having those concerns? Would a Japanese man who worries about the idea of throwing open their borders be human garbage?

Or are these sorts of misgivings and concerns only verboten for the pale face?

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!

\dig deep, dig hard - then be shocked as the dirt piles upon you...

 

[Geosurface]

It's like talking to this!

You've got your automatic protocols of what you yell at someone who trespasses into any territory which has been marked as forbidden, things only the worst xenophobic monsters talk or think about... and no amount of logic or appeal to reason is going to breach it. So, let's stop responding to one another from here on out.

 

[QuantumPion]

I don't really get the outrage over this commercial. I basically saw it as everyone in the world praising how awesome America is.

 

[Jimzz]

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Once again a simple innocent thing causes the usual suspects here on P&N to expose their bigotry to the rest of the world.

Well done!

 

[sunzt]

I feed on Geo's coke filled rage... it sustains me.