Cheerios Ad Starring Interracial Family Predictably Summons Bigot Wave (The Ad's Adorable Though!!!!

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[h1]Cheerios Ad Starring Interracial Family Predictably Summons Bigot Wave[/h1]
A nice Cheerios advertisement whose only discernible difference from other Cheerios commercials is that it depicts an interracial family was forced to disable its YouTube comments section today after it became inundated with virulent racism.

Despite the hate, Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for Cheerios, told us in a statement, "Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all."

Segregationists still looking to tell the world how angry they are about a cereal commercial can do so at Reddit—"Shoving multi-culturism down our throats when we know it fails.. awesome"—or here, in Kinja.
But also, there's this...

k-bigpic.png

[h1]I'm Biracial, and That Cheerios Ad Is a Big Effing Deal. Trust Me.[/h1]
By now you know some racist ***** have whipped themselves up in a frenzy of racist dickery over the portrayal of an interracial family in a Cheerios ad. You see, Cheerios has committed the heinous crime of “acknowledging that interracial families exist,” and also that “sometimes interracial families need to eat breakfast.” This was too much for the racist *****—Cheerios was forced to disable comments on YouTube where the video was posted. (What’s up with you racist *****, anyway? Don’t you have jobs?)
Related

[h6]Racists Very Upset Over Interracial Family in Cute Cheerios Commercial[/h6]
After watching this commercial, you might be tempted to go to YouTube and head down a rabbit hole of adorableness by watching several other Cheerios… Read…


[h6]Cheerios Ad Starring Interracial Family Predictably Summons Bigot Wave[/h6]
A nice Cheerios advertisement whose only discernible difference from other Cheerios commercials is that it depicts an interracial family was forced… Read…

I am biracial. My mom is black and my dad is white. My family often had the audacity to eat breakfast even though cereal was not being specifically marketed to us. When I was growing up, there were no families on television that resembled mine. My family was something of an anomaly in the overwhelmingly white neighborhood of Seattle where I lived. When I was with my mom, people would look at me and ask, “What is she?” When I was with my dad, people would ask, “Is she Italian?” Because this is definitely the kind of information that strangers are entitled to.

But life was even more confusing for my brother. He was born with blond, curly hair and bright blue eyes. He looked nothing like my mom. When they were alone together, well, that’s when **** got real. The white mothers in my neighborhood not only assumed my mom was my brother’s nanny, but they inquired after her services. Single brows were raised when my mom assured these awful women that she was, in fact, the biological mother of my brother. (This was before Botox. Eyebrows could move freely then.) When my maternal grandmother came to pick us up from daycare, despite being on the authorized pick-up list, they made sure to call my dad to make sure this black lady was legit. (By the way, there are worse things than being kidnapped by a black lady in a luxury Cadillac who takes you to her country club for lunch and lets you drive the golf cart.)

Yeah, okay, this was in 1991 or whatever and Halle Berry hadn’t won an Oscar yet so maybe racial dynamics were more confusing then. But just last week (IN TWO THOUSAND AND THIRTEEN), a white father in Virginia was suspected by a Walmart security guard of kidnapping after he made the mistake of being seen in public with his own biracial children. A customer reported the father to the security guard after seeing him in the parking lot with his children and deeming the scene “strange.” Local police were dispatched to the family’s home to investigate. The children were made to positively identify their own parents, in their own home. As dumb as this sounds, this Cheerios commercial at least provides idiots in the parking lot at Walmart a foundation of knowledge about interracial families. I don’t necessarily want strangers to look at me with my parents and think “CHEERIOS FAMILY,” but if the alternative is bailing my dad out jail, then I guess I’ll take it.

This commercial is a huge step for interracial families like mine who want to be seen in public together and maybe eat some heart-healthy snacks. But it also validates the existence of biracial and multiracial people. Often we’re treated like exotic flowers, who should feel complimented when people say stuff to us like, “All biracial women are so beautiful” or “I would kill for your skin.” One of the hardest things about growing up the way I did is feeling like you need to choose one racial identity over another just to fit in. The fact that strangers constantly ask you to identify yourself (forcing you to put yourself in a category) makes you feel conspicuous and gazed upon. You catch strangers looking at you. You know what they want to ask you. You know that they won’t leave you alone until you give them a rundown of your heritage.

So, this is just a stupid commercial about Cheerios but it means a lot to me. It shows interracial families and their children being normal and cute, not something to gawk at or to question. Hopefully this commercial will lead to even more positive representations of not just interracial families, but all kinds of non-traditional families. To Cheerios, I give you one internet high-five, for doing your part to normalize families like mine and people like me. Increased visibility of our differences leads to things like “acceptance” and “disrupting the status quo” and also “not arresting biracial people’s dads for kidnapping.” Bravo. Now excuse me while I go dump a box of cereal on my dad.

Meagan Hatcher-Mays is an unemployed graduate of Washington University Law School in Saint Louis. She does a significant amount of yelling on Twitter.
Hooray for progress!!! (Some, at least...)
 
Are people so out of touch with reality that they believe people not of the same race/ethnicity/culture don't enjoy a good coital romp?
 
i like seeing stuff like this (the commerical i mean).

interracial couples are definitely underrepresented in culture in general...my (black) wife and (white) i went to johannesburg this past winter and i saw something that made me think the same thing...

View media item 436315
SOUTH AFRICA
Sexy interracial poster sparks furor in South Africa

GEOFFREY YORK
JOHANNESBURG — THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Last updated Thursday, Sep. 06 2012, 11:58 AM EDT


A portion of the poster that all of South Africa is buzzing about.

It’s the poster that all of South Africa is buzzing about. In a single image, it exposes the most sensitive issues in this fragile post-apartheid society: politics, race and sex.

The poster was distributed on university campuses by the student wing of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party. It shows a young inter-racial couple – a white man and a black woman – both apparently nude, locked in a loving embrace.

The tagline: “In OUR future, you wouldn’t look twice.”

Within days of its appearance on campuses this week, the image was dominating the South African media, sparking heated debate among politicians and hundreds of other commentators on websites and social media across the country.

Much of the reaction was supportive. Some was racist. Some was prudish. Some was fiercely partisan or bizarrely over-the-top. But the controversy showed that the taboos of the apartheid era have not entirely disappeared in this “rainbow nation” today, even though 18 years have passed since apartheid’s collapse.

One Facebook user declared that inter-racial relationships are “an abomination.” The Christian Democratic Party said the poster was “clearly promoting sexual immorality.” The ruling party, the African National Congress, said the poster was created by a white-dominated party that followed the “Irish coffee” principle of “sprinkling darkies on white foam.”

One of the oddest reactions came from South Africa’s trade-union congress, which is closely aligned with the government. “The poster says, ‘Join the DA to have an affair with a white person,’” said Zet Luzipo, a provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

“It entrenches the white supremacy that we fought against during the liberation struggle,” he told a South African news service. “We will not be excited with having an affair with a white person; we will not be enticed by that.”

The opposite reaction came from another Facebook user, who wrote: “That something so humanly beautiful, an embrace between two people, can cause so much disharmony and conflict. … We live in such a beautiful country but we are so divided through sheer ignorance!”

While the ruling ANC has an official policy of non-racialism, promoted most memorably by former president Nelson Mandela, the country still tends to suffer from an unofficial social segregation, with most blacks still living in overcrowded townships and most whites in affluent suburbs. Inter-racial couples are still relatively unusual, although less rare than before.

With its controversial poster this week, the DA is promoting itself as a party that fights racism and supports integration. It recently elected a young black woman, Lindiwe Mazibuko, as the first black leader of its parliamentary wing. The ANC, however, accuses the DA of being a white-dominated party where blacks are mere tokens.

The DA said it was pleased by the strong reaction to its poster campaign. “With all the comments, good and bad, we have achieved our goal of engaging South Africans in a frank debate about one of the most defining issues in our country today – tolerance,” said Mbali Ntuli, the federal chairperson of the DA youth wing.

“Part of addressing the issue of intolerance is about bringing people’s prejudices to the fore,” he told his members in an open letter. “We need to ask them why exactly it causes them so much discomfort.”
 
Are people so out of touch with reality that they believe people not of the same race/ethnicity/culture don't enjoy a good coital romp?
ABC refuses to cast a Black man on the Bachelorette or Bachelor.

Unless Derek Jeter steps up, it's never gonna happen.

So I think it's more so, they're worried the type of people in the South and Midwest regions of the country that are easily swayed by things they see in ads or on television would have an issue with it.
 
This comic is about video games but applies to all of the internet. I feel over half of the people that make racist/sexist, etc. comments and arguments online aren't what they portray to be. They realize the more absurd statements they make, the more people respond to them and the more attention they receive, giving them a temporary sense of happiness and power that is addictive.

EDIT

Sorry if it's inappropriate, I'll take it down.
Penny Arcade!!
The Meagan girl sounds like a whiny brat.

I don't see her stepping up for the Latino, Middle Eastern, East Asian or Indian people who almost NEVER get screen time on American TV. I get that Caucasians are the majority so the ads displayed have to include them, so why don't we get a Latino/White interracial family? Or why can't we even get just an Indian family for that matter? When people talk about race relations they only focus on Black v. White and ignore the rest.
Because believe it or not, Latino and White in America is considered "OK" or at least more OK than Black and White.  Same goes for Asian and White.

There's a specific stigma associated with Black men and White women, and it stems from slavery, eugenics, and all of those teachings in the 17 and 1800s that convinced an entire world of people that Black men were dumb, sexually depraved, criminals with dangerously uncontrollable libidos.

100 years later, people are smarter, but only slightly.  There's still a large portion of the country that can't stand to see women who look like their wives and daughters marrying men who look like the animals they used to own.
 
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Meagan Hatcher-Mays is an unemployed graduate of Washington University Law School in Saint Louis. She does a significant amount of yelling on Twitter.



:rofl: :rofl:
 
Are people so out of touch with reality that they believe people not of the same race/ethnicity/culture don't enjoy a good coital romp?

ABC refuses to cast a Black man on the Bachelorette or Bachelor.

Unless Derek Jeter steps up, it's never gonna happen.

So I think it's more so, they're worried the type of people in the South and Midwest regions of the country that are easily swayed by things they see in ads or on television would have an issue with it.


Actually, I recall seeing a black dude on the bachelorette years ago (had to be the first or second one). Either way, he didin't get far...:lol:

The Bachelor is a whole 'nother story.

I imagine that if by some incredible odds they happen to ever cast a black bachelor, he'll literally have to be super-human: see 6ft5in tall with less than 2% body fat, multimillionaire (in the hundreds), harvard med and law graduate (MD/JB program), contemporary sculptor whose pieces are in high demand and sell for millions, green or blue eyes, distantly related to the Ashanti King, CEO of nonprofit that works closely with UN to help fight child poverty in 3rd world countries, etc...:lol:

In other words, they aint ever putting a regular black guy on the bachelor, that's assuming they even plan on entertaining the idea...:lol:




...
 
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Watching that ad without reading the whole post and I didn't even think of the whole interracial thing. The people who are bothered by it are just sad, sad individuals.
 
But if we go past interracial relations and just focus on the amount of appearances each race makes in the span of commercials between a show, how much of it is made up of actors or actresses that aren't White or Black? Have you ever seen a commercial for an Asian couple interested in osteoporosis medications, or a Latino man selling auto insurance?

This might just be how I feel, but people get so hung up over the White and Black contrast that they forget there are a great deal of people in America who are rarely, if ever, represented in television by people of their same race.
It's true. A very low percentage.

Here in Canada there are a few that have some Asian people in the commercials but I can't think of any Latino/Hispanic, East Indian, Native Canadian/American or any other group. It really is a shame since all of our major cities here are filled with diversity.
 
Because believe it or not, Latino and White in America is considered "OK" or at least more OK than Black and White.  Same goes for Asian and White.

There's a specific stigma associated with Black men and White women, and it stems from slavery, eugenics, and all of those teachings in the 17 and 1800s that convinced an entire world of people that Black men were dumb, sexually depraved, criminals with dangerously uncontrollable libidos.

100 years later, people are smarter, but only slightly.  There's still a large portion of the country that can't stand to see women who look like their wives and daughters marrying men who look like the animals they used to own.
But if we go past interracial relations and just focus on the amount of appearances each race makes in the span of commercials between a show, how much of it is made up of actors or actresses that aren't White or Black? Have you ever seen a commercial for an Asian couple interested in osteoporosis medications, or a Latino man selling auto insurance?

This might just be how I feel, but people get so hung up over the White and Black contrast that they forget there are a great deal of people in America who are rarely, if ever, represented in television by people of their same race.
No I agree with you.

I mean there's what, like 5 Asian actors in hollywood at a time?

Latinos is different because there are literally hundreds of them on TV and movies every day in leading roles and people just dont realize it (Cameron Diaz, Charlie Sheen, Alexis Bledel, Frankie Muniz, David Blaine, Ryan Lochte, hell Ted Williams the baseball legend just to throw it out there) but Asian American ethnicities like Indians, and Arabs are def underrepresented.
 
It was a good ad. At no point did I think about an interracial couple. Racism is going to be around for a very long time. Those same people who posted those comments are teaching that to their children behind closed doors thus continuing the cycle.

Starscream,

Create another thread about that.
 
It's only an issue if you let it be.

Why even entertain a conversation?
Why not? It's a valid observation.
No, it's not, and opening a dialogue gives it validation.

There are cultures that are upset that we give women rights, are we supposed to open a dialogue to defend ourselves?
because if you don't talk about it then you never have the opportunity to educate the other side.

you don't have to defend yourself, but if no one talks about it then people hold these bigoted views, never even get the chance to correct them, and pass them on to their children.

idk about you, but at some point in my life i'd like to be able to walk through certain states holding my girlfriend's hand and not looking over my shoulder wondering if the lynch mob's coming.
 
I think it is stemmed out of fear that the caucasian race will cease to exist if interracial couples continue for long enough. I think it will be better when the mixed people become the majority. No more reasons to get caught up over something as stupid as skin color.
 
It's only an issue if you let it be.

Why even entertain a conversation?
Why not? It's a valid observation.
No, it's not, and opening a dialogue gives it validation.

There are cultures that are upset that we give women rights, are we supposed to open a dialogue to defend ourselves?
NOT opening a dialogue gives a bigoted view validation. If you don't condemn negative worldviews, how will people ever understand that their way of thinking is wrong?
 
I recall reading an article on a blog, posted by Dirty some years back, which pretty much suggested that Asians are never catered to, specifically, in popular culture because their collective success (especially in academia, which in turn opens a multitude of doors), as a minority group and relative to the other minority groups, has enabled them to access spaces largely and historically reserved Whites. The downside of this, however, is a cultural assimilation of sorts that has disadvantaged Asians by marginalizing, at best, or silencing, at worst, their unique culture.

In other words, because Asians occupy the same niche spaces as most whites, companies never feel the need to target them specifically. They simply maintain the status quo--targeting the White majority--because in the end, Asians will access the same information geared towards Whites, by way of occupying the same niche spaces. The proverb killing two birds with one stone comes to mind. Thus, we have a possible explanation for why Asians are rarely seen/addressed in popular media.

As for latinos, that's a tricky. Unless you're defining "latino" by some generalized and/or stereotypical "look", you can't say with certainty that there is little to no representation of latinos in, say, television commercials. Remember, "latino" is a broad term referring to millions of people, with varying skin hues, from many countries. There are just as many latinos who look white as those who look black. Thus, you could easily have a latino personality on camera and assume that they were white simply because they didn't fit the stereotypical construction of what latino individual is supposed to look like. You could make the argument that the media does little to address issues specific and important to the latino community, but to say that there is little to no representation of latinos on camera might be pushing it, imo.

Of course, and it goes without saying, that Whites undoubtedly get more air time in the media than all other groups.




...
 
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#1, the laws are in our favor, we don't "need" to talk to anyone

#2, some people will never see it your way, you're wasting your time trying to convert idiots

#3, you'll lose brain cells talking to idiots, you might as well preach atheism over the internet 24/7, tell me how far that'll get you in life.

if you're homosexual, what's easier, living your life and not worrying about others? or trying to preach equality to everyone you come in contact with?
 
Cute commercial :smile:I was wondering when we'd start seeing these types of commercials.

If you think this backlash is bad, just wait until the same sex ads start rolling out.

If it took this long for a biracial ad, a same sex ad will take decades!
 
i like seeing stuff like this (the commerical i mean).

interracial couples are definitely underrepresented in culture in general...my (black) wife and (white) i went to johannesburg this past winter and i saw something that made me think the same thing...

View media item 436315
SOUTH AFRICA
Sexy interracial poster sparks furor in South Africa

GEOFFREY YORK
JOHANNESBURG — THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Last updated Thursday, Sep. 06 2012, 11:58 AM EDT


A portion of the poster that all of South Africa is buzzing about.

It’s the poster that all of South Africa is buzzing about. In a single image, it exposes the most sensitive issues in this fragile post-apartheid society: politics, race and sex.

The poster was distributed on university campuses by the student wing of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party. It shows a young inter-racial couple – a white man and a black woman – both apparently nude, locked in a loving embrace.

The tagline: “In OUR future, you wouldn’t look twice.”

Within days of its appearance on campuses this week, the image was dominating the South African media, sparking heated debate among politicians and hundreds of other commentators on websites and social media across the country.

Much of the reaction was supportive. Some was racist. Some was prudish. Some was fiercely partisan or bizarrely over-the-top. But the controversy showed that the taboos of the apartheid era have not entirely disappeared in this “rainbow nation” today, even though 18 years have passed since apartheid’s collapse.

One Facebook user declared that inter-racial relationships are “an abomination.” The Christian Democratic Party said the poster was “clearly promoting sexual immorality.” The ruling party, the African National Congress, said the poster was created by a white-dominated party that followed the “Irish coffee” principle of “sprinkling darkies on white foam.”

One of the oddest reactions came from South Africa’s trade-union congress, which is closely aligned with the government. “The poster says, ‘Join the DA to have an affair with a white person,’” said Zet Luzipo, a provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

“It entrenches the white supremacy that we fought against during the liberation struggle,” he told a South African news service. “We will not be excited with having an affair with a white person; we will not be enticed by that.”

The opposite reaction came from another Facebook user, who wrote: “That something so humanly beautiful, an embrace between two people, can cause so much disharmony and conflict. … We live in such a beautiful country but we are so divided through sheer ignorance!”

While the ruling ANC has an official policy of non-racialism, promoted most memorably by former president Nelson Mandela, the country still tends to suffer from an unofficial social segregation, with most blacks still living in overcrowded townships and most whites in affluent suburbs. Inter-racial couples are still relatively unusual, although less rare than before.

With its controversial poster this week, the DA is promoting itself as a party that fights racism and supports integration. It recently elected a young black woman, Lindiwe Mazibuko, as the first black leader of its parliamentary wing. The ANC, however, accuses the DA of being a white-dominated party where blacks are mere tokens.

The DA said it was pleased by the strong reaction to its poster campaign. “With all the comments, good and bad, we have achieved our goal of engaging South Africans in a frank debate about one of the most defining issues in our country today – tolerance,” said Mbali Ntuli, the federal chairperson of the DA youth wing.

“Part of addressing the issue of intolerance is about bringing people’s prejudices to the fore,” he told his members in an open letter. “We need to ask them why exactly it causes them so much discomfort.”

The reason why this was a big deal, was that it was a heap trick from the DA to try and get the black youth vote. Everyone and their grandma can see their tactics. They try and hire young black staff to make them look better, when really they haven't changed. None of their senior members of staff are black. In fact some of their senior members of staff worked or the NP (National Party) the folks who were responsible for the last regime (apartheid).
The DA only really services the needs of white people in South Africa, but their trying desperately to mask that with people like Lindiwe Mazibuko (a black girl from a rich family who hasn't had to struggle for anything, who is not trying to cut her name in politics)
 
#1, the laws are in our favor, we don't "need" to talk to anyone

#2, some people will never see it your way, you're wasting your time trying to convert idiots

#3, you'll lose brain cells talking to idiots, you might as well preach atheism over the internet 24/7, tell me how far that'll get you in life.

if you're homosexual, what's easier, living your life and not worrying about others? or trying to preach equality to everyone you come in contact with?
but you're missing the point.

if no one had ever taken the time to preah equality, COULD homosexuals live the life they want?

could blacks if no one had ever said "hey wait a minute.  maybe this slave thing isn't so good."

you're arguing for apathy and ambivalence and the truth is, that's all fine and dandy til people come for something YOU care about.

there are people who literally still think blacks are evil. like biblically.  you can say its a waste of time to tell them otherwise, but if no one does what happens when you run across those people and their whole lives all theyve been hearing is that they're right?
 
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Lets just stop ignoring the elephant in the room...this isnt shocking, or a surprise at all...lets all quit being p.c. and just keep it 100. So long as there is a majority of white society, and a majority of corporations that are majority whites..things like this will always occur. Its the same reason why any domestic commercial aka cleaning supplies, washing clothes, mopping etc..always shows a woman...and when they do show a man he is usually incompetent and clueless. Its the reason why all tv family sitcoms show the man as a nincompoop, and cant do the simplest of task such as, work a dishwasher, use a vacuum, etc...things deemed as women's work.

Its why you dont see many if at all overweight couples on commercials (unless its a weight lost comercial, or they are black) As if lol there isnt any overweight families, childrens etc. Not every housewife is a size 0-3 white woman who wears clear/nude nail polish dressed in a crop top, casual pants, and those ballerina looking shoes. Not every black housewife is some sassy neck rolling talk to the hand..you go girl type either. And what about homosexuals? Surely they do things like wash clothes, use a swiffer, eat food etc...

Face it so long as there is a white majority society, and a white majority in terms of corporations...you will see the same stereotypical...live in a bubble type commercials. And you will always get a negative/ignorant type of response to a commercial like so, when there is a commercial/tv show that isnt the norm (norm being stereotypical, unrealistic)

Yea youll get the typical, i have insert minority friends/coworkers/neighbors etc... I dont hate/mistreat anyone based on race. I treat/view everyone the same p.c. type of answer. But end of the day, commercials/tv shows etc...show what truly is felt, feelings wise. Plus it also resonates those feelings of, i got to deal with this whole like everyone, be around different types of ppl other then my own...but once i get home in my solitutde, i can kick back relax and have good ole perfect white world...where there arent any gays, minorities are few and far in between...and when they are there they reinforce all the ignorant stereotypes ive come to grow and love. All women are slim and attractive, women cook/clean etc... do as they told so on and so forth.

We as an society, in the real world that is are evolving so far away from those outdated stereotypes, but our entertainment etc.. gives those who live in a bubble, or at very least dont want to accept societies changes, or do so reluctingly or to be p.c. a false sigh of relief. So as long as you have those who feel and think this way...things will remain status qoute....Maybe not in real life...but in advertising, commercials, and entertainment.
 
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