Racist Cereal Commercial Contemplations

Today I was asked by a friend if I would do a blog on the "controversial" Cheerios commercial.  Not having already seen this commercial I went out to YouTube and found it.  I had heard from other people about the backlash surrounding the commercial so before watching it I was expecting something completely different from what I actually ended up seeing.

In case you have not already seen the commercial, it is about a biracial family.  A white mother, a mixed daughter and a black father.  The adorable little girl asks her mom if it's true that Cheerios are good for your heart.  One her mom says yes the little girl pours a bunch of cereal on top of her dad's heart (over his shirt) while he is taking a nap on the couch.  The only possible racist thing that I could think of in this commercial was the fact that African American men are more likely to be diagnosed with heart disease than white men.  However, I still don't view this as racist as it is a medical fact.

This commercial was viewed more in anger with racism due to the fact that it was a white woman and a black man as parents to the mixed little girl.

As a mother to a mixed son myself I do not understand this way of thinking.  It is very fear and ignorance based.  I was not raised to look at people by the color of their skin, but by their character.  This sort of thinking is not doing anything to progress us as humans in this world.  I have never been able to understand this, not having been raised around it.  In case you have never seen a picture of my son Liam, he is quite a few shades darker than I am.  However I think that we have quite a few facial features in common.  I do come across this racism quite often in the constant questioning about if or where I adopted my son.  Fortunately I just laugh at them and say "No I gave birth to him."  I know I am translucent white, but he really is my biological son.  The main reason this line of thinking bothers me is because I do not want it to lead my son to ever question anything about himself later in life.  I hope that I can raise him in confidence and pride for who and what he is, and not to ever judge a person for the color of their skin.

The best parody video that I could find featured a white mother a mixed child and a black mother.  This was a great in your face to the biracial and lesbian parentage.  This to me was the greatest way to laugh at this issue.

I must say that my faith in humanity WAS redeemed when I came across an excellent video showing how kids reacted to the commercial.  It features many kids all being asked specific questions about the video.  Overall, none of them agree with the anger that anyone felt at this commercial and think that people should just be loved for who we are.  It is great to see that we are raising kids to NOT judge others based on skin colors, even if some adults are STILL living in the past. 

Here are the videos that I discussed:  Please form your own opinion, I would love to hear your take.

The "controversial" commercial

Parody commercial

Faith restoring children's take