Coca-Cola includes two gay dads in Super Bowl ad | VIDEO
During Sunday night’s 2014 Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos, Coca-Cola aired a 60-second commercial titled “It’s Beautiful,” a portion of which briefly highlighted two men who appeared to be gay fathers and a daughter at a roller skating rink.
The move comes on the heels of Coca-Cola facing backlash for the company’s sponsorship of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in wake of Russia’s crackdown on members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The company also recently landed in hot water when a new social media campaign related to the Olympics allegedly prevented users from typing the word “gay” on a customizable Coke can, but allowed the use of the word “straight.”
This isn’t the first time a company has tried to brand themselves as supportive of queer people following outrage from the LGBT community. Last September, Barilla pasta became subject to a widespread boycott after the company’s chairman claimed they wouldn’t feature gay families in their advertising and critics could “eat another brand of pasta.” The LGBT community’s response lead Barilla to announce a “Diversity and Inclusion” campaign last November and it begin participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
Check out the “It’s Beautiful” commercial above. What do you think about this high-visibility move by Coca-Cola? To watch the “behind the scenes” video, visit Huffpost Gay Voices and to read several Twitter reactions from LGBT figures.
