I don’t usually write about news or what’s currently happening in the world, but a couple of days ago I heard of this whole controversy about the new American Coca-Cola commercial that was released during the last Superbowl, and I wanted to give my opinion about it because it made me think a lot.
In this commercial (which is supposed to show what the US are really like and what American people do in every day’s life), we can see lots of people of many origins (North American, of course, but people from South America, Asia, Arabic countries, Africa or even Europe) living a normal day in the USA, while the song “America The Beautiful” is being sang in many languages (representing the diversity of people living in the country).
I understand the opinion of whoever complains about this ad and the fact that the people in it are not what they call “real Americans”, but I think they should remember that, if we take a look back at the country’s history, the “real Americans” apparently have never existed.
Not so long ago, what is today the United States of America still belonged to different people who have by now almost all disappeared.
The Americans as we know them now are descended from the Europeans who colonised the continent.
So, in my opinion, the “real American” is a myth.
The USA is so big, so diverse, and has received so many influences from all over the world that the “real Americans” as people like to picture them don’t exist.
The USA, as Switzerland, is a country full of contrasts, with people from many different origins, who have different cultures and different languages, and that’s what makes the country beautiful, because they’re all building it together.
The exact same thing happens in my country.
I really liked that commercial.
I don’t know much about the USA but, from what I’ve seen and what I’ve been told, it seems to correspond to what life there looks like, though, unfortunately, many people would like it to change.
I think that it’s not possible anymore to “protect” a country against this cultural mix that is currently spreading all around the world.
And I think that this is great.
Watching this commercial and seeing that such a big company as Coca-Cola values this social diversity made me happy.
I keep hope; hope that one day we’ll all be kind and tolerant toward each other, and that discrimination and rejection won’t be a thing anymore.
I’m sure that we can do it, I believe in the human being and in the fact that one day we’ll be strong enough as people, inside of ourselves, not to need frontiers anymore.
I’m happy that Coca-Cola dared do that.
It gave rise to a debate, but this makes people think about who they are and discuss their points of view, and this, in my opinion, is the first step toward tolerance.
I think that we should remember more often that, despite the fact that we belong to different countries, we all belong to the same world, and that God (or whoever/ whatever created us) made us all equal, all brothers…
February 2014
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