Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” Super Bowl Ad

A decent amount of time has now passed since Coca-Cola's "America The Beautiful" commercial controversy began, but I have yet to see anyone discuss the issues surrounding the young Native American girl singing the patriotic song in her indigenous language. Do we really feel comfortable with this? 

As a native myself, I am always extremely critical of they way Native Americans are portrayed (and agree to be portrayed) in pop culture. Upon seeing this commercial I had to ask myself, "Do I feel comfortable with this? Is this a positive and progressive image of what it means to be a Native American today?" I answered no to both portions of the question. Here is why:

First and foremost, there is the issue of endorsing a product that contributes in a huge way to the diabetes epidemic. Native Americans today are descendants of people who subsisted on hunter-gatherer diets. Our bodies evolved store every little bit of fat and sugar we consume. The modern American diet of processed foods and sugar loaded sodas such as Coke have therefore lead to a diabetes epidemic for our population that is even worse than what the regular American faces. We should not be supporting this kind of unhealthy consumption, especially for our people who are extra susceptible to it's deadly side effects. 

I also feel is was exploitative to ask a young girl to take on the task of portraying the modern Native American in a national ad campaign. I can't help but feel that she was unable to think critically about the implications of her actions, and that the people at Coca-Cola probably knew this. A young girl is easy to win over with the promise of being projected into nearly every American home and business. Don't get me wrong, I do believe she thought she was doing a good thing. But I cannot agree that asking our elders to translate a song glorifying the United States into an indigenous language is a good thing. I am not sure why they agreed to do it. In these tough financial times, I am sure that a mega corporation such as Coca-Cola had a rather predictable means of persuasion.

Let's discuss the specific native language that was chosen for this ad, Keres. Keres is a language of the Peublo people of the Southwestern United States. While most indigenous languages have been lost due to the dismemberment of tribes, Keres has remained strong. This is a direct result of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

While their independence from the Spaniards was short-lived, the Pueblo Revolt gained the Pueblo Indians a measure of freedom from future Spanish efforts to eradicate their culture and religion following the     conquest. Gutierrez, p. 146

The only reason Keres is still around today is because the Pueblo people fought against the takeover of their land 334 years ago. How then, can they use that mother tongue to sing the praises of the very nation who did eventually overtake them? 

Finally, I must point out that many Native American's do not live in America. Those of us whose tribes have retained large enough numbers have fought to remain sovereign nations. Why would we want to sing about America when we do not live in it? Most infuriating of all, the mash-up video equates Native Americans with immigrants who have been welcomed into this country. No, I do not take issue with America accepting new citizens from foreign countries. Quite the opposite, in fact. But too see the original inhabitants of this land equated with immigrants… well I don't quite have the words to describe how disrespectful that feels. Coca-Cola, you do not need to work to convince us Indians that we are welcome here. This is our land, and you should feel fortunate that we have always welcomed others to it.