Have you seen the new commercial for Cheerios? A mom sits at her kitchen table when her grade schooler walks up to her with a box of Cheerios. The girl: "Mom? Dad told me Cheerios is good for your heart. Is that true?" The mother answers yes. Cut to the father napping on the couch — with Cheerios poured all over his chest.
A cute commercial highlighting Cheerios latest campaign: "Heart Healthy". In the normal world, this commercial would just be one of those things you smiled at one time... and then fast-forwarded through on your cable/TIVO box as you try to get to the next segment of The Voice. However, this time, the commercial has been highlighted by various news sources... and the internet at-large. And why?
The mom is white.
The napping father is black.
And the girl is their mulatto child.
The commercial went viral because of the multi-race parentage... and as I write this, I'm still slack-jawed at the ridiculousness of it all. Comments on the video were so out of control (with enough "white power" and N-word comments to power a Ku Klux Klan rally) that Cheerios-maker General Mills had to request the comments be turned off. Seriously?? Everyone get shocked! Look!!!! It's a white mom and black father!!! Oh my God!
One of the tamest comments: "There is NO WAY you can tell me that anyone feels at home in any 'family' that is mixed. Women may be forced to choose being with someone of another race by the society they live in, or wanting to please someone or escape something — but there is no way there is the love of man and woman between them...they are a different people...period..."
Shut. Up. You. Racist. Fuck.
Before I was married, I dated a number of different women... a few of whom happened to be black. I wasn't "curious" because they were black... I was attracted to them because of who they WERE; color didn't matter. Were there cultural differences? Sure... but no different than people coming from different countries/geographical locations, economic backgrounds, upbringing... whatever.
This commercial doesn't depict a "mixed-race" family... it's just a FAMILY. The child isn't "mixed"... it's HUMAN. I'm i̶r̶r̶i̶t̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ pissed at this entire chain of events for a number of reasons.
Firstly, everyone is praising General Mills for having the "courage" to put a mixed-race family in a national commercial. That's not bravery... it's REALITY. Companies who want to connect with their customers need to meet their customers where they are at. Want to reach the REAL world? Be a reflection of it. Did General Mills take a chance? Sure... and it's unfortunately that it's termed as "taking a chance". Stupid. It's only "chancy" because Conservative America (read: backwards-thinking) is so fucking short-sighted in their bullshit, antiquated, nonsensical, useless, idiotic, moronic, screwed-up beliefs that black and whites shouldn't "mix". Shut up.
Secondly, the comments are a pure reflection of the anonymity that the web affords people. These racist commenters embraced their DNA-ingrained cowardice and blasted away. Nice bravery, ass clowns. Hiding behind profiles that have no real name... no picture... no way to identify you. Put your picture up, you useless meatbags. Show yourself. Stand behind your racist beliefs, don't hide in the shadows. Gutless.
Thirdly... let me get this right... it's okay for Ray J (a black man) to have sex with Kim Kardashian (not black, but not white) and have that blasted out to the internet. It's okay that Lucille Ball married Desi Arnaz... and they had a child. Sammy Davis Jr. and May Britt (married 1960), Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham (married 1961)... no problem, because it's not all up in Middle America's face. The silent requirement seems to be: Don't put a upper-to-middle class black/white mixed family next to Cheerios — the yellow box that reflects 1950 "values". The Cosby Show? Cool... they're all black. But if Theo Huxtable was interested in dating iCarly... intergalactic meltdown. *rolls eyes*
Black, white, Latino/a, Asian, Middle Eastern...... who cares? Stop segmenting society based on our differences and start celebrating our similarities.
Wake up, people... *shakes head*