How Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” Commercial Could Have Been Awesome

It was a pretty good commercial, I thought.

But they missed a great opportunity to make a simply good commercial into something spectacular.

(“Coca Cola Sign in Decatur Texas,” by anyjazz65, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)

I understood what they were getting at in the commercial: that people who originate all over the world have come — and continue to come — to this land of freedom and opportunity. Not only that, but no matter where we originate we can all appreciate both the physical grandeur of this country and the truths we hold self-evident in this marvelous nation.

So what would have made it awesome?

If, in the finale, they had gathered all the singers and other participants into one place, and had them sing “from sea to shining sea” as one chorus.

Doing so would have illustrated the “melting pot” ideal, in which no matter our origins we become part of the magnificent cultural alloy that is the U.S. citizenry. In some respects it would have fulfilled the promise of the old “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” commercial. And, perhaps most important, it would have reminded us that we are at our best when we are “E Pluribus Unum” — out of many, one.

It could have been awesome.