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Post by
Rankkor
Tbh, the more I think about it the more I think that the commercial accomplished exactly what it was meant to, that is to say, start a controversy that gets everybody talking.
I think the simple fact that it IS controversial is inherently wrong. Come on, a soda company airing an ad in multiple languages is now a controversial move that causes uproar? the phrase "Only in 'Murica" comes to mind.
During one of the
"Copa America"
championships of soccer, the 2007 one was celebrated in Venezuela, and as advertisement, Nike broadcasted this big add in every language spoken in America (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, etc). Never heard of it? Of course you didn't, because people here didn't reacted all butt-hurt about it and started stirring up controversies.
Meanwhile in the US, one soda company puts a single ad in multi-language and this is now controversy? It sounds to me like some people are just looking for excuses to fight. Over here, a controversy is the government cracking down on business ownership. A controversy is the government increasing the price of gas, and restricting how much you can buy per week. A controversy is banning gay people from adopting kids. A controversy is also declaring transexuals to be mentally diseased.
But in the US, their definition of controversy is what language their advertisements should run in. "First world problems" indeed.
(Sorry for the rant, I didn't meant it at you specifically ryja, I'm just facepalming hard at the lengths some folks will go just to stir up $%&#)
Post by
Gone
@Rank
I know it shouldn't be controversial, but common sense dictates that it would be if you look at the political climate of contemporary America (or really anywhere in the world, but using America as an example here since it happened there). People spend a lot of money on Superbowl ads, and their usually marketed to a specific niche of people. I think it was intentional.
It's funny, 'cause it was people complaining about them that initially drew the media's attention. Blame the intolerant bigots who threw the fit, not the media reporting on it.
Don't blame the media for reporting on something stupid rather than giving us actual news? People not liking a Superbowl commercial does not constitute breaking news. Some of the comments I read are no less intolerant than Adam saying that all Republicans or white people from the south are ignorant rednecks. But again, I guess as long as you generalize or marginalize the right type of people, that makes it okay.
A person acting intolerant does not make them the devil either. Most intolerant people are just uneducated. You change minds by opening a dialogue, not acting like a self-righteous jerk and making them dig their heels in even more.
Post by
Adamsm
Honestly...this is a joke. That's all it really it is. It falls under the same thing as
this
to me. Listening to people complain about the fact that a company decided to reach out for multiculturalism, with a very sweet commercial, and turn it into a %^&* storm is idiotic. If your offended by something like that, you may want to look deep inside yourself. And since one of the tweets was from a Republican Senator, complaining about the fact that it wasn't just in English, is hilarious to me; way to screw yourself out of votes.
This is honestly like last year, where I worked the Monday after Superbowl, and had some one call in about the
Year of the Farmer
, telling me he was offended by it because he was an Atheist and he'll never purchase another Chrysler or John Deer product again....I was roaring with laughter for almost 5 minutes after that call, just because of how stupid it was.
Post by
Gone
I wasn't trying to specifically call anybody here a jerk btw, I just realized how my last post may have come across.
a company decided to reach out for multiculturalism, with a very sweet commercial
Like I said, I very much doubt that this was really Coca Cola's intentions. They wanted to make money. Best case scenario they were trying to milk the "multicultural" card, worst case scenario they engineered a controversy.
Post by
Adamsm
Or....they've been doing the same multicultural commercial strategy they've been working the last few years. People are just getting sticks up their asses because it's 'America the Beautiful' that is being sung, and not in the so-called dominant language of the USA.
Post by
Gone
Or....they've been doing the same multicultural commercial strategy they've been working the last few years.
That doesn't preclude what I said.
And again, Coca Cola doesn't give a %^&* about multicultural values, they care about getting money from people that do.
Post by
Adamsm
Alright, if you say so.
Post by
Gone
Alright, if you say so.
What, you think a big company like CC really cares about the message it outs out in advertisements designed to sell soda?
Post by
Adamsm
I do; not all companies are complete and utter scum bags. It's also been a trend lately that rather then go for the standard ^&*! and asses, some companies are going for nicer images, such as
Buswiser's
great commercial this year.
You seem to be taking this way too seriously Ryja; as I said, I'm laughing at the stupidity here. If people want to boycott Coca Cola, they have that right....I'm gonna laugh at it, but they have that right. However, when people are making comments such as
these
:
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?
Or things like this:
"Coca Cola Is The Official Soft Drink Of Illegals Crossing The Border." In a series of tweets responding to the commercial, Fox News Radio reporter Todd Starnes mocked the use of other languages and wrote a tweet asking in Spanish: "Dear Coca Cola, is it politically incorrect to sing America the Beautiful in the language it was written in?":OrCouldn't make out that song they were singing. I only speak English.
So was Coca-Cola saying America is beautiful because new immigrants don't learn to speak English?
Or comments like this:
Executives at Coca Cola thought it was a good idea to run a 60 second Super Bowl ad featuring children singing "America the Beautiful" - a deeply Christian patriotic anthem whose theme is unity - in several foreign languages. The ad also prominently features a gay couple.
As far as the executives at Coca Cola are concerned, however, the United States of America is no longer a nation ruled by the Constitution and American traditions in which English is the language of government. It is not a nation governed in the Anglo-American tradition of liberty. It is instead a nation governed by some all inclusive multi-cultural synthesis of the various forms of government in the world, as expressed by the multiple languages used in the Super Bowl ad to sing a uniquely American hymn that celebrates our heritage.I'm gonna laugh and keep laughing at the idiotic things people get butt hurt about.
Post by
Adamsm
Oh, here's the commercial in question
; wow, that's just so moral breaking and country shattering. To quote the illustrious Dr Peter Venkman:Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
Post by
Squishalot
Alright, if you say so.
What, you think a big company like CC really cares about the message it outs out in advertisements designed to sell soda?
Our national airline recently released an advertisement featuring their classic 'I still call Australia home' song, sung in both English and an
indigenous language
. Certainly, it's not designed to be controversial, but rather, embrace the combining of cultures.
Now, whether it's because they want to 'milk' the people who see that as a good thing, or whether they themselves feel that it's a good message to push, in my opinion, doesn't make a difference in the message that they are pushing. However, I do honestly think, having worked with a number of large multinational corporations, there is a more ethical streak in large companies than there used to be.
Edit: I actually think we need the same thing sung in even more languages, a la the Coke ad, here in Australia.(##RESPBREAK##)8##DELIM##Squishalot##DELIM##
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
I think nationalism is despicable, no matter what language it's in! :D
Post by
Adamsm
Edit: I actually think we need the same thing sung in even more languages, a la the Coke ad, here in Australia.
I'd suggest doing that for some of the companies up here...but it wouldn't go over well; we'd have English, French Canadian, and the few Native languages that survived the Residential School
'integration'
. Would be a very depressing ad.
Post by
Gone
Just to clarify, I never agreed at all with the people complaining about the coke ads. Like I said, my fiance is an immigrant. I just don't like the way people are reacting TO the reactions. First of all, lets not give it more attention than it deserves, and second of all, we should focus on educating ignorant people, not condemning them as "stupid" for the mere fact that they're uneducated.
Post by
Monday
I think that education won't work. Generally, those pushing for a more educated populace tend to fall on the Left side of the spectrum. Those that actually require the education about issues such as these fall almost exclusively on the Right. Those from opposite sides tend not to listen to each other very often. Not to mention that a large portion of it is rooted in their religion, which means it's probably not going anywhere
And, to be honest, I will make fun of them. If they put themselves out on a public forum (Facebook, Youtube comments, etc), I have the implied permission to basically say whatever I want about them.
And I say that they're stupid. Multiculturalism is what America was founded on. America is one of the more unique nations in the world because it's formed almost entirely of immigrants, many of whom brought their own customs and culture with them. The fact that a small minority of people are attempting to make America return to the old days where Caucasians reigned supreme is absolutely silly and idiotic.
Normally I'm not one of those "OMG SOCIAL JUSTICE ON TEH INTERWEBZ" people, but considering this phenomena is almost exclusively confined to the internet (and Fox News's production room, but they don't count), I will respond in kind.
Post by
Gone
I think that education won't work. Generally, those pushing for a more educated populace tend to fall on the Left side of the spectrum. Those that actually require the education about issues such as these fall almost exclusively on the Right. Those from opposite sides tend not to listen to each other very often. Not to mention that a large portion of it is rooted in their religion, which means it's probably not going anywhere
More stereotypes...
It has nothing to do with politics, it has to do with geography, which can also influence politics, but any connection between the two is more a matter of correlation than causation. Same deal with religion, idk why you would even bring that up. It's like the old cliche that liberals are more educated, but conservatives have more common sense. Education is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and common sense is knowing not to put tomato in a fruit salad.
The problem you were referring to btw is called party polarization, and it's more of a problem in Washington than anywhere else. The fact is, most Americans identify as moderate, being neither in the far left or the far right.
Furthermore, even politically, the schism in political parties over education is more about formal schooling than it is about actually informing people about social issues. Conservatives don't advocate education as strongly as liberals because of what they believe are financial realities, not because they don't want people to be educated.
What you're suggesting is no different than saying that we shouldn't bother educating people from ghettos, because most of them will drop school to join a gang anyway.
If anything, I find your statement more ignorant than anything that these hicks have been saying about the Coke ad, because you claim to know better. Most of the people #$%^&ing about the ad are speaking out of actual ignorance, because they probably had the social disadvantage of growing up in a trailer park or some other impoverished area, and were raised by people who likely ingrained mono-cultural ideas in their head.
How dare you imply that these people can't be helped and are only worthy of mockery. Do you really believe that natural intelligence has any correlation with the level of education a person has, and the region that they are born in? Education is nothing more than acquired knowledge. It has nothing to do with a person's intelligence or their likelihood to embrace new ideas.
Post by
asakawa
Well, this whole issue is a storm in a very silly teacup (to butcher an idiom that might already not travel well outside the UK). However, while I don't think the people expressing ignorant, racist views should be coddled or ignored and written off as an extremist view expressed by backward people - expressing that opinion publicly should be challenged publicly - this really is bringing out the worst in those opposing that view, at least in this thread.
e.g:
I'm pretty sure he meant "white redneck southerners."
^ Bingo; I can understand the Spanish, Asian, Russian and other accents without much problem...but those Southern accents? Dear goddess, need to ask them to repeat what they mean several times.
Adamsm's inability to understand strong regional accents is his own issue and making assumptions about those with that accent, based only off their voice, is the same flavour of wrong as the political incorrectness he's challenging. Personally, I would urge people to look to their own assumptions and prejudices before attacking others for expressing theirs.
Post by
Monday
Ryja, I think what I said went right over your head. I will try to be more clear.
Quite simply, people speaking out against the commercial WILL be right wing (considering that's a major tenant of the right wing not only in America, but elsewhere - nationalism). The majority of people who press for education and eradication of attitudes such as this are almost exclusively left wing (considering that's a major tenant of the left wing - trying to get all people on equal footing, no matter what race/gender/orientation etc).
Sure, there are moderates in America, but the large majority of the people speaking out against this commercial are NOT moderate, and therefore will take anything a leftist says with a truckload of salt.
Post by
Gone
The majority of people who press for education and eradication of attitudes such as this are almost exclusively left wing
This is not at all true.
Sure, there are moderates in America,
No, the
majority
of Americans are moderates when compared to the radically polarized right and left in Washington.
the large majority of the people speaking out against this commercial are NOT moderate, and therefore will take anything a leftist says with a truckload of salt.
You are basing this argument on two false assumptions, and a false premise.
Assumption 1) Only leftists will argue for education. If anything most extreme leftists take the stance that you seem to have taken, that anybody in the far right is stupid, and thus wrong, and simply can't be helped
Assumption 2) That people who dislike the commercial are too ignorant to listen to anybody that has a differing opinion from their own.
The false premise? That this has anything to do with political ideology. As I just tried to explain to you, political ideology and situations like this are more a matter of correlation than causation. If you try to explain the benefits of multiculturalism to somebody, they're not going to stop you mid sentence and say "Wait, you're not a Democrat are you?" If anything it's a matter of geography. People who come from impoverished areas in the south are often less likely to embrace multiculturalism because of the way they were raised.
considering that's a major tenant of the left wing - trying to get all people on equal footing, no matter what race/gender/orientation etc
This does not imply that people on the right are against any of these things. More often than not when Conservatives oppose a Liberal agenda with regards to social equality, it's because they don't believe the proposition in question is feasibly possible with our current financial reality, not because they don't want people to be on equal footing.
Post by
Monday
If you try to explain the benefits of multiculturalism to somebody, they're not going to stop you mid sentence and say "Wait, you're not a Democrat are you?"
No. It's usually "socialist $%^got" (at least in my experience).
More often than not when Conservatives oppose a Liberal agenda with regards to social equality, it's because they don't believe the proposition in question is feasibly possible with our current financial reality, not because they don't want people to be on equal footing.
In my experience, living in several Conservative states...
... it's because they hate those people and don't want to see them. Giving them equality is the first step to acknowledging that they actually exist and having to spend time around them.
As to the rest of your post, I'm not referring to education itself. I'm not saying that only leftists want people to go to college.
No, the majority of Americans are moderates when compared to the radically polarized right and left in Washington.
Right. I agree. However, the people complaining against this commercial are not moderate, therefore it's entirely irrelevant. Political ideology and the reactions to this commmercial are directly connected (see:
Todd Starnes's reactions to it
). I don't see how this is difficult to comprehend. It's like saying the fight over gay marriage isn't about politics. It's completely about politics.
Similarly, this is largely a fight over politics, now that people have connected it with illegal immigration*.
* To expound on this a bit: almost every major news corp reporting on this is reporting on the reactions, not on the commercial itself. Only Fox News, Glenn Beck and their ilk are really complaining about the commercial itself.
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