The Buzz: Cheerios Interracial Ad Sparks Internet Backlash

So why in 2013, when there are over 2.5 million interracial married couples in the US, up from 650,000 1980, would a General Mills Cheerios ad that portrays an interracial family even be newsworthy? Because there were negative comments posted on YouTube that were so vile, General Mills decided to disable the comments.  While the positive comments outweighed those that were negative by a 10 to one margin, the bad ones were apparently very bad with references to Nazis and racial genocide.

Interracial couples are routinely portrayed today in television shows and in movies.  The United States has a bi-racial president.  So what is the big deal?  Why did this issue escalate to this point?  Is racism still so insidious or was it just social media “herding” mentality at play?

I think there is still a lot of “underground” deep-seated racism in this country and around the world at that. Social media allows for some anonymity in being able to express true feelings.  Once it gets started, others get on board because they now have “permission” to vocalize their thoughts.

In some ways I am glad that issues like this are coming to the forefront, lest we get complacent thinking that we are in a “post-racial” society. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell discussed the topic in his Rewrite segment on Monday, describing the uglier comments as “the kind of racism you had every right to expect would be extinct in a country with a bi-racial president.”

Bi-racial president or not, the idea of the “extinction” of racism is an ideal that I doubt will happen in my lifetime.  Attitudes towards race have certainly changed for the better over the years, but we have such a long way to go in this area. I am concerned that we pay too little attention to issues of racism today and maybe situations like this will jolt us back to reality.

General Mills has long been an advocate of diversity and inclusion. I applaud their efforts to portray our world as it is becoming and to stand their ground, criticism and all.

Watch the Cheerios ad below and tell us what you think.