Cheerios Ad Featuring An Interracial Family Generates Appreciation and Controversy

From l-r: Grace Colbert, Whitney Avalon, and Charles Malik Whitfield

A recent Cheerios commercial featuring a bi-racial family has elicited strong reactions, both pro and con. In the commercial (which you can watch below), a child (Grace Colbert) asks her mother (Whitney Avalon) if it's true that Cheerios is good for the heart. After her mother confirms it is, the child does her part to ensure her father (Charles Malik Whitfield) has a healthy heart. In addition to being thoroughly pleased to see an interracial family being portrayed in an ad, I also thought the commercial was brilliant in its simplicity.

Most of the reactions to the commercial have been positive, with people echoing thoughts similar to mine. However, the ad has predictably brought out the bigotry in some people. According to an article on the website Adweek, the comments section of the You Tube clip posted by Cheerios was littered with references to Nazis (wtf?!) and racial genocide (again, wtf?!). The backlash has caused Cheerios to disable the comments on the clip. On Cheerios' Facebook page, commenters stated they found the ad "disgusting" and that it made them "want to vomit". Although Cheerios has closed the comments section on the clip they posted, you can still "like" or "dislike" it. If a count of "likes" and "dislikes" is any indication, love is trouncing hate. As of this writing, the You Tube clip posted by Cheerios had 19,302 likes as opposed to only 1,323 dislikes.

The Cheerios' ad is the latest in a developing trend in which interracial relationships are being portrayed in advertising. Although the Cheerios' spot is obviously not the first U.S. commercial to feature an interracial couple,  it's the first one I can recall which features a black-white interracial couple AND their child. In addition to the links below which feature interracial couples in commercials, I've also noticed in-store ads at my local Target which reflect this change in society.

Apple iPhone

Bank of America ad touting cash back deals

Philadelphia Cream Cheese

The Cheerios commercial and others like it are reflecting the growing trend of interracial marriages in the U.S. With the rise in interracial marriages, it makes sense for companies to create ads which represent this expanding demographic. Sorry bigots, get used to it!

There was a time when seeing minorities on TV was practically an event. I've heard stories of how black people would alert their neighbors/relatives and huddle around the TV when someone like the Supremes would appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Now, it's not a huge deal. I look forward to the day when interracial couples in advertising becomes just as commonplace.

Guest Post By Josh About Online Interracial Dating

Earlier this week I was contacted by Josh, a regular commenter at Diversity Ink. He asked if I'd be interested in featuring an article he wrote for about how online dating has impacted interracial dating. Since I have been wanting to post something about interracial dating for quite some time, I jumped at the opportunity. The following article was written by Josh for Datingsites.org: 

Internet Dating Shrinking the Racial Divide

Would you date a person of another race? For many people today, that question is rarely pondered. In a culture where melting is as acceptable in the mainstream as actually being a member of any particular race, we’re inundated with images of interracial couples, children and celebrity figures.

The commonness of dating outside of one’s race is a reassuring breath of fresh air to anyone who has experienced discrimination. But watching the world go by doesn’t make one a seasoned traveler.
What about you in particular? Would you? Have you? Will you?

Thankfully, the majority leans toward indifference on the issue. They’re not crusading for more acceptance of interracial dating; they’re not picketing against the evolution of humanity and our inherent drive for communal lives regardless of color. They’re just taking life as it comes.

Interracial dating—its increased numbers and wider realm of approval—appears to be a natural byproduct of an integrated society. People sharing the same soil, enjoying the same freedoms, attending the same schools, enjoying the same hobbies – desire and love see past immediate appearance and even of lingering taboo.
According to the Survelum Public Data Bank, only a very small percentage of those surveyed about interracial dating opposed the idea, while other numbers indicate healthy indifference.

Roughly 250 people were surveyed, all over the age of 15, with a racial makeup slightly similar to the United States’ population: African-American, 11%; Caucasian, 73%; Asian-American, 3%; Hispanic-American, 3%; Other, 5% (4% unchecked).

Asked if they approved of interracial dating, 42% of the survey’s participants selected “strongly agree,” while 43% chose “agree,” and only 2% checked “strongly disagree.”

The acceptance levels are very high among those surveyed, but what’s more satisfyingly optimistic about this study is that only 38% of those surveyed had ever dated an individual outside of their race, while 54% had not. When asked if someone’s race was an issue at all, 57% disagreed while 25% agreed it was even an “issue.”

This is the indifference on display. Most people carry a shoulder-shrugging attitude about races mixing, and that’s actually the healthiest we can ever expect racial relations to be. Is it not?

When “So what?” is the reaction to the (non) issue of races mixing, it becomes clear that the natural seed, planted through immense struggle generations previous, has taken root and has grown tremendously.

In today’s modernized, mobile world, there is no better evidence of the spread of interracial dating than within the online dating genre. The king of all dating sites, eHarmony, has a widely popular interracial-specific branch, while other sites like InterracialPeopleMeet, InterracialDatingCentral, InterracialMatch, BlackandWhiteSingles, and dozens more, have a very large market share in the genre.

Opinions and polls may be misleading, but the money never is.

As for the smaller percentage of individuals choosing loathing over life, clinging tightly to pointless and damaging stereotypes and misconceptions, it remains unclear what it would take to sway their opinions closer to rationality’s roost.

The hope is that their children will experience a modern world in which “interracial dating” doesn’t need to be an issue—or term—at all; it can just be “dating” and allowed to be as natural in practice as it is in premise.

Cross Post By Sandy About Bill Maher's Tweeted Response to Kim Kardashian

The following was originally posted by Sandy (one of the contributors to Diversity Ink) on his blog Best Seat In the House on 7/8/11. He was kind enough to let me feature it over here as well.

Maher Comes Out With Race-Based Attack On Kim Kardashian

 Bill Maher was at his predictable worst as he used Twitter as a platform to issue what was, by his standards, a fairly standard distasteful attack of Kim Kardashian. One sort of expects that Maher will say tasteless things, but then there are comments that are even bad for his standards (such as his standards are).

It started when Kardashian Tweeted this in response to the verdict in the case of Casey Anthony (you can look it up on your own if you don't know about it):

“WHAT!!!!???!!!! CASEY ANTHONY FOUND NOT GUILTY!!!I am speechless!!!”

Maher, smelling blood in the water, responded as he Tweeted the following:

“Kim Kardashian is upset with Casey Anthony verdict? Ur father defended O.J.! Starting the Kardashian tradition of getting black men off.”

A few thoughts about the original comment and the response went through my head:

1. He has probably been looking for an opportunity to unload this kind of comment on the Kardashian women.

2. He perhaps has some underlying issues with the Kardashians and their relationships with black people.

3. He is tired of seeing the Kardashians with guys like Reggie Bush, Lamar Odom, etc... Maybe he wants to see them getting off more guys like Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Bill Mah ... nevermind

4. His comment smacks of racism (not that he cares one bit about what anyone things of him ... good, bad or indifferent ... this is how he makes his money).

Posted by Sandy Gholston at 8:42 PM on July 18, 2011.

 

I don't think Bill Maher's comments were racist. The tweet made me laugh out loud because his use of the term "get off" is a clever play on words. In order to be funny, humor usually has some basis in the truth. After all, Kim's father (the late Robert Kardashian) did help in getting O.J. off and Kim has a history of dating black men. Also, if Maher has a problem with the Kardashian sisters dating black men, he's being hypocritical because he has dated black women in the past.

Do you think Bill Maher's response to Kim Kardashian's tweet was racist?

Happy Holidays From Diversity Ink!

Before 2010 turns into 2011, I wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone from the gang at Diversity Ink. In keeping with the time of year and one of the topics addressed at Diversity Ink, below is a holiday commercial by Lexus that features an interracial couple.  The commercial caught my eye because it's another example of the advertising world starting to reflect the fact that interracial relationships in the U.S. are on the rise.  The fact that some racist pigs on the Internet find this commercial sickening is an added bonus.

Have yourselves a safe and joyous holiday season!