Today, I offer you, dear audience, a Mixed girl rant. I apologize in advance but occasionally a Mixed person can be a little shocked by the lack of Mixed-race representation in the media, and since I created this blog to promoted Mixed-race people in the media I feel like the occasional rant will be an issue from time to time.
About a month ago, Cheerios released a commercial which showed a little girl, concerned about her father's health, asking her mother if it was true that Cheerios was good for the heart. The commercial ended with the father waking up from a nap to discover a pile full of Cheerios over his heart. When I first saw this commercial I teared up. For those of you that do not know me, I give off a hard, slightly less then emotional persona, but nothing will drive me to tears quicker than a sweet father-daughter relationship. Partly because I did not have a good relationship with my own father, but partly because I think dad's get a bad wrap in the media generally and not all deserve it. So, yes, when I saw the commercial, I teared up at the sweetness of the little girl's gesture to save her father. There was nothing controversial or ugly about it, it was just a thoughtful family oriented TV spot about cereal... or so I thought. This sweet little commercial ended up sparking a shocking controversy that showed how far we may not have come in this country. Before I go on, check out this sweet yet "controversial" commercial.
About a month ago, Cheerios released a commercial which showed a little girl, concerned about her father's health, asking her mother if it was true that Cheerios was good for the heart. The commercial ended with the father waking up from a nap to discover a pile full of Cheerios over his heart. When I first saw this commercial I teared up. For those of you that do not know me, I give off a hard, slightly less then emotional persona, but nothing will drive me to tears quicker than a sweet father-daughter relationship. Partly because I did not have a good relationship with my own father, but partly because I think dad's get a bad wrap in the media generally and not all deserve it. So, yes, when I saw the commercial, I teared up at the sweetness of the little girl's gesture to save her father. There was nothing controversial or ugly about it, it was just a thoughtful family oriented TV spot about cereal... or so I thought. This sweet little commercial ended up sparking a shocking controversy that showed how far we may not have come in this country. Before I go on, check out this sweet yet "controversial" commercial.
After watching that commercial you might be asking yourself what the controversy was about. If you have that reaction, then like me you saw a sweet family commercial. Unfortunately, this commercial sparked some good ol' fashioned racism because the family portrayed was interracial. Several extremely racist comments were posted on General Mills Youtube page in response to the commercial. As a result, General Mills (GM) disabled the comments section on their page. Camille Gibson Vice President for Marketing for General Mills stated that many of the comments were not family-friendly and this made it an easy decision to remove comments. General Mills has seen more positive reaction to the spot then negative but the fact that there was such a strong reaction to seeing an interracial family in a cereal commercial in 2013 baffles me. Even as a person on Mixed-Race that has clamoured for more representation of Mixed-Race people in the media my whole life, the fact that this family was Mixed was lost on me. I, Sharmane Franklin Johnson, the girl with the Mixed-Race in media blog some how MISSED that she got to see a commercial with a Mixed-Race family in it. All I saw was a sweet family commercial about cereal. Isn't that where we should be in America in 2013? 50 years after the civil rights movement, shouldn't we all "miss" that the family in this commercial was interracial? For me the only answer is "yes." We shouldn't have to disable racist comments to a harmless commercial. We shouldn't even have to applaud a company for putting an interracial family in a commercial. We should just have people of all races, ethnicity's, sexual orientations, and genders in commercials and be perfectly comfortable with what ever combination of people are in them. The more interracial families and kids seen on TV and in movies, the sooner our culture will catch up to the normalcy of interracial families. Everywhere I turn, I see interracial families, it should not be shocking that people marry or have babies outside of their race.
It took me awhile to post my thoughts about this commercial because it took some time for me to digest the fact that it had such a crazy response. I thought we had come a lot farther in terms of race in this country. I thought my generations big fight was for equal rights for homosexuals, not whether or not it was okay to have a Black daddy and a White mommy portrayed in a cereal commercial. Didn't my grandparents generation take care of that fight for us in the 60's? It was a painful wake up call, one that shows me it is even more important for people of Mixed-Race to put themselves in the Entertainment industry, to tell stories of Mixed heritage so that it does become our normal. Even though I don't believe we should HAVE to applaud a company for exhibiting interracial families in commercials, I do applaud General Mills for not taking down the spot and to push the idea of tolerance and pride in Mixed families. It was a fearless and humanist move to make, and I am grateful they made it. Keep up the good work GM!
Cheney, A., (June 3, 2013). General Mills Blocks Racist Comments on Youtube Ad. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/06/03/general-mills-blocks-racist-comments-on-youtube-cheerios-ad/
Sultan, A., (June 23, 2013). Cheerios commercial with interracial family stirred faux controversy. Retrieved from http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/parenting/aisha-sultan/cheerios-commercial-with-interracial-family-stirred-faux-controversy/article_92a4c186-4d56-5c02-a458-640fe55a6305.html
General Mills. (2013). Cheerios "Just Checking" Ad. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYofm5d5Xdw
Hi Sharmane!
ReplyDeleteThis post really speaks to my heart. I actually had not seen the commercial until a few days ago when one of my sorority sisters made a Facebook post about it. It truly upsets me to hear about the negativity towards the commercial and the company. We are taught to love one another regardless of the color of their skin. I do not understand why it is so hard for people, in 2013, to treat everyone equally. It breaks my heart to know that I may one day be judged and criticized because the person I love and choose to build a family with is not the same race. You love a person because of what is inside of their heart. I pray that the world will soon recognize that. Keep up the great work!
Alyssa Welch
Sharmane,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, this commercial look a little odd to me, I don't quite see the point of mixed race in this commercial, what are they trying to communicate using mixed-race family. I did not see a good relationship among 3 of them. First the shot of a mom sitting on a table alone, then a kid running from nowhere, may be left play alone somewhere, then a father sleeping on a couch alone. These shots shows me how separate they are. Then, I believe they are using this Cheerios to connect them?? may be ?
I am not sure this commercial will increase sales or drop, but it is a great attempt.
Sharmane,
ReplyDeleteIt was both interesting and informative to read your blog about the recent Cheerios commercial and the controversy it caused due to the companies selection of a bi-racial family. It was both eye-opening and refreshing to read how you have dealt with the issue of race from a mixed race perspective. Coming from a previous generation, I have can remember distinctly the old man saying "If you aint white, your black!" I look back and laugh at it now, but I know back then he was serious, and he was referring to all races. When we grew up with kids of a mixed background, we always considered them black. Never as mixed race kids. They were simply one of us, and were treated as such by the community around us. It was not until recently that it dawned on me that the nuances and complexities that are a part of growing up as the product of a mixed race relationship can be quite unique and separate from the african american experience. This occurred when a friend of mine, who had three children who were the product of a mixed race relationship, was engaged in a conversation with me about schools. I began discussing the black/white ratio of the schools and she asked me then, "How many bi-racial kids are there?" I stopped in my tracks. I had never even considered to learn the answer to this question as bi-racial kids to me where simply considered African American. I recoiled a bit out of shame for my ignorance and informed her that I did not know the answer to her question. The simple fact that she asked me though, literally changed my perspective on the issue in an instant.
Chad Morton