<p>I thought the Microsoft ad was very powerful. It particularly resonated with me because the opening scene is with Steve Gleason, a former professional football player who is living with ALS. (My mother died from ALS and I have an aunt currently struggling with the disease.) Technology is doing and will do wonderful things for people who suffer with various diseases.</p>
<p>Dragon, I honestly don’t know any other country that prides itself on being monolingual like many in this country do. Certainly not Canada or any European country I know of but I’m all ears.</p>
<p>Unless you mean we don’t pride ourselves on being monolingual. In which case, I’ll have to strongly disagree. </p>
<p>The Stephen Colbert/Pistachios commercials were brilliant, especially the second one. </p>
<p>The only thing disrespectful about the Coke commercial is juxtaposing singing America the Beautiful with drinking Coca Cola. I don’t believe I have even seen anyone singing that song while drinking soda. It doesn’t really bother me but it does seem somewhat crass.</p>
<p>Doberhuahua was really freaky. I didn’t like the looks of that dog one bit. My fave was the Steve Gleason technology ad (Microsoft) and I’m only sorry they didn’t have his name and “living with ALS” in the corner of the screen for the whole ad. </p>
<p>I wasn’t crazy about the Coke ad but I recognized it was a clever update to one of the most famous ads of all time, their “I’d like to teach the world to sing” commercial. If you think of the context, they were taking that and turning it into a positive statement about America taking all these people from around the world and bringing them into America. If I would criticize, it’s that the commercial implies the world sings “America”, but that’s absurd so I have to believe they referred to all these voices as American. Coke ads are all about associating positive feelings with the product, like Bud’s horse ads. </p>
<p>I found the commercials pretty dull honestly.</p>
<p>If I had to pick one though I’d say the [Coke</a> Borders](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube) one mostly for the interesting cinematography. </p>
<p>As for non-superbowl commercials, I do find the Straight Talk Wireless ones pretty hilarious. </p>
<p>Well, aren’t most western nations, “monolingual” or maintain only one official national language? Sure, in N. America there’s Quebec but we all know the history of that cultural schism. And except for border areas or culturally iconic regions in Europe, like the German speaking region of Italy or Alsace Lorraine in France, etc. in modern times most nations have chosen a single official language.</p>
<p>Comparing the USA and the Latin America’s isn’t the best case for saying USA should declare a single language. </p>
<p>Canada recognizes both French and English as official languages, although the province of Newfoundland is the only bilingual area in a provincial constitutional sense. (Quebec is monolingually French). something like 14% of Canadians’ first langugage is neither of those. </p>
<p>I understand ignorance but I keep reading references to America the Beautiful and the Coke ad as “deeply Christian” and that it’s offensive the ad included a gay couple … um, the author was lesbian. That’s not exactly a secret; it’s a big chunk of even the wiki article about Katharine Lee Bates, which downplays what biographers say more bluntly. She had a long term partner, also named Katharine, and both taught at Wellesley. More accurately, she might say, “Why only a gay couple and not a lesbian couple?” The song itself was a poem about the majesty of America, the land, and how Americans the people have made it. The words are intentionally not not specifically Christian but in the Deist tradition of “God”.</p>
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<p>Yes and no. Yes, they only generally have one official language but almost all have recognized minority languages. However, none pride themselves on being monolingual that I know of. Most other countries have you learn a second language from very early on. All of my European cousins are at least bilingual (mostly English & French). Here, we don’t really start languages until 8th grade or higher if we feel like getting around to it. </p>
<p>The Coke commercial really RUBBED ME THE WRONG WAY. I have lived and worked in countries where different races within the country speak different languages, and the people self-segregate by language. The groups of people distrust one another because they cannot communicate with each other. It’s DIVISIVE.</p>
<p>Additionally, the people in these countries who are not conversant in the socially dominant language become ECONOMICALLY MARGINALIZED. That’s what is also happening to groups in the U.S. that do not speak English-- it’s nothing to celebrate. </p>
<p>America should be a melting pot. That insipid Coke commercial was about linguistic Balkanization. </p>
<p>Not a salad guy, eh?</p>
<p>Almost had me there, GMT. 
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<p>[Coca</a> Cola - “It’s Beautiful” - Behind the Scenes](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Thank you so much for posting that link Niquil. So touching to see the joy the singers felt in doing their parts. I almost cried when the young girl that sang in Tagalog was saying (in perfect English) that she thought it would make people happy to hear people sing America the Beautiful in so many languages. Everyone was so joyful in the process of making the recording that you could just feel the joy. Now if I can just manage to not let the ugly in some people overwhelm that joy.</p>
<p>Has everyone on this site forgotten about Puerto Rico? It is a Commonwealth and not a state, but it is certainly part of the US. Those born there are US citizens and if they move to the “mainland” they are entitled to vote. </p>
<p>When I saw the video, I knew I had to post it. It was very touching. I, too, teared up. Mainly when the various speakers were talking about the adversities they faced. I could empathize with many of them. It was a sweet video and I really enjoyed seeing these Americans. </p>
<p>Kumbaya…</p>
<p>Most people in the world speak more than one language. Only in the US do so many people take pride in their incapacity in languages.</p>