General Mills drew attention to hundreds of ignorant comments under its Cheerios TV ad featuring a biracial family by disabling the comment section on YouTube.com.
This isn’t the first time that a biracial couple has been featured in national television ads — and it won’t be the last time. In fact, 90% of black children featured in television ads today are actually biracial or mixed. So what’s the big deal, you ask?
In a statement to Gawker.com, General Mills’ vice president of marketing said, “Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all.”
General Mills’s decision to “stand by” the commercial is insulting by itself. Why bring attention to the comments as if biracial families are some sort of oddity in these days and times?
Why not just ignore the ignorance? There will always be ignorant comments on YouTube. Silencing their voices on YouTube will not eliminate the racist ignorance that pervades this country.
The ad features a biracial child approaching her Caucasian mother with a Cheerios cereal box. The child asks about the health benefits of the cereal. The mother explains to the child that the cereal contains whole grain oats which are good for a healthy heart.
In the next scene, a black man awakens from a slumber to find Cheerios poured over the left side of his chest, over his heart. The ad was viewed by 1.7 million people on YouTube.
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