Michael Sam Talks About Social Media Haters in Coca-Cola Super Bowl Week Spot: VIDEO

In advance of the Super Bowl, Coca-Cola has released a new video spot in its #MakeItHappy campaign featuring NFL free agent Michael Sam. The ad features clips of Sam with his fiancé Vito Cammisano as he receives the ESPY Arthur Ashe award as well as images of the couple on social media together.

In the spot, Sam talks about the role social media plays in his life because he's in the spotlight, and the way he turns the hate messages and death wishes he sees every day into a positive thing.

Says Sam:

"One nasty email she pretty much told me that we don't belong - that we're evil. She is really the only hate message that I replied to. And what I said was, 'I am sorry that you feel that way, but even though you hate me so much I still love you, and I wish you have a great day.' She never replied back."

He adds:

"All the negativity that comes to me I channel to positivity. I have to prove the haters wrong. If I can use social media to make somebody understand and accept people I will do so. I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for them."

Watch the touching spot, AFTER THE JUMP...

Stephen Colbert Flips Out Over Coca-Cola's Super Bowl Ad Celebrating Diversity: VIDEO

Stephen Colbert is, of course, furious about Coca-Cola's multi-lingual Super Bowl ad which celebrated America's diversity and also featured a gay couple (and America the Beautiful, which was written by a lesbian):

"For pete's sake, since when are gays allowed to gay up 'America the Beautiful'? I mean, if the woman who wrote the song Katharine Lee Bates saw this ad she would be disgusted and so would her life partner Katharine Coman who lived with her for 25 years in what was then referred to as a Boston marriage."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Coca-Cola Features Gay Family in Super Bowl Ad Celebrating America's Diversity: VIDEO

Amid protests by LGBT activists over its sponsorship of the Sochi Olympic games and silence over Russia's anti-gay laws, Coca-Cola this evening featured a gay family in a minute-long ad celebrating America's diversity.

Coca-Cola also posted a five-minute behind-the-scenes video of the ad online, featuring interviews with its participants.

Watch both clips, AFTER THE JUMP...

While the spot was commended by some LGBT activists (Freedom to Marry's Michael Crawford tweeted praise, calling it "the best ad so far"), it seems unlikely (and is perhaps not intended) to change objections to the company's participation as a Sochi sponsor.

Tweeted Dan Savage, using a promotional Coke hashtag that was hijacked by activists earlier this month:

"Love your endorsement of diversity and tolerance in the USA, @CocaCola—how about some support for Russian LGBT people? #CheersToSochi"

UPDATE: The Coca-Cola ad's multi-lingual soundtrack didn't go over well with a bunch of racist Americans, TIME writes:

It was that last aspect that unfortunately, brought out America the Ugly, at least on some parts of the Internet. “WTF?” asked one post on Twitter. “@CocaCola has America the Beautiful being sung in different languages in a #SuperBowl commercial? We speak ENGLISH here, IDIOTS.” Some of the vitriol may have been satire for all I know, but there was much too much for that to explain all of the “English or GTFO” sentiment–not all of it in impeccable English itself. To wit: “Dear @CocaCola : America the beautiful is sang in English. Piss off. #DontF--kWithUs.” (To be fair, not every Tweet brought up by a search on “Coca Cola English agreed: “Coca Cola brings the commercial of the night: America the Beautiful sung in Spanish, English, Arabic, and other languages. Beautiful.”)

‘Anything But Coke’ College Campaign Pushes for LGBT Rights in Russia: VIDEO

A new protest campaign aimed at highlighting Russia’s anti-gay crackdown and Coca-Cola’s refusal to denounce these human rights abuses has begun on college campuses across the nation.

Carnegie Mellon University's The Tartan reports:

John Moriarty, a sophomore directing major, along with Jeff Kasinoff, a junior at Wesleyan University, co-founded Anything But Coke, a campaign to boycott Coca-Cola products to convince Coca-Cola to pull its sponsorship of the Sochi Olympics.

“Anything But Coke is an online campaign that I started because of the atrocities happening to gay citizens in Russia,” Moriarty said. “Hate groups across the country have spiraled out of control. [...]

Last Sunday, Moriarty and about twenty others poured out Coca-Cola products — none of which they bought — at the intersection of Morewood and Forbes Avenues. Similar protests are slated in the coming weeks at other universities and high schools across the country. The next protest takes place next week [this Sunday] at Wesleyan University. After that, protests will take place at schools such as Boston University and St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt.

A dozen other schools have set in motion protests as well. 

Moriarty acknowledged that while Coca-Cola is not the true villain in the room, the company does have the power to make a real impact on the situation in Russia. “We cannot support corporations who put profit before human rights. No matter who is suffering,” he wrote in an email to The Tartan.

Watch a PSA for the campaign, AFTER THE JUMP...

Earlier this week, we reported on a similiar initiative taking place at Ireland's Trinity College, with the school's student union pledging to ban Coke products during the upcoming Sochi Games.

[photos via Facebook]

Coca-Cola to Try and Blunt LGBT Criticism with Super Bowl Ad About Diversity?

Coca-Cola, under fire for months for its sponsorship of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, may try and blunt criticism from LGBT activists by running a Super Bowl ad "touting its commitment to diversity," writes Scott Wooledge at DailyKos:

A reliable source provides some interesting news: In an effort to spin their way past protests over their sponsorship of the Sochi Olympics in Russia, Coca Cola has contracted to place an ad in the Superbowl touting its commitment to diversity. Described as a Benetton's style feel-good "we are the world" commercial, reliable sources say the media purchase was only for the United States market.

Coke's PR team must be putting in some very long nights these day. An Olympic sponsors social media protest movement has sprung up, causing enough trouble to catch even the attention of New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Initially the property of McDonald's the #CheersToSochi hashtag has been hijacked and now also used against Coke and evolved into an all-purpose Olympic sponsor protest tag.

Coca-Cola Removes Social Media Tool That Banned the Word 'Gay', Apologizes

Sochi Olympics sponsor Coca-Cola has removed a social media tool from a website after it made headlines for banning the word "gay".

Said the tool when you tried to type in the word gay: “Oops. Let’s pretend you didn’t just type that.”

Said the company in a statement:

"We are aware that the Share a Coke promotion we are running in South Africa has generated an unintended outcome. We apologise for any offence caused. The Share a Coke programme was created to allow consumers to take the iconic “Coca-Cola” script and replace it with their name on the can. In South Africa, the digital version of the Share a Coke promotion did not properly limit the customisation to individuals’ names. We’ve taken down the site and are in the process of revising the digital tool immediately...As one of the world’s most inclusive brands, we value and celebrate diversity. We have long been a strong supporter of the LGBT community and have advocated for inclusion, equality and diversity through both our policies and practices. Again we apologise for any offense this has caused."