There has been much criticism about Cheerios latest Commercial which features an interracial family. The Cheerios commercial aired May 28, 2013. The commercial received so much negative feedback that the famed cereal company had to disable its comment settings on YouTube.
In response to the controversy of the commercial several social and pop culture critics created parody videos of the commercial. One such parody written and filmed by Kenji (Cheerios Parody “Just Checking” features a family of a White mother and Black mother. The dialogue mentions that while Cheerios is heart healthy, it also supports the right of all to eat Cheerios with anyone they want. The video then ends with “Eat That Haters”.
Another parody by the Cotillion Girls Comedy features a traditional white family and a daughter with blonde hair and blue eyes. The catch here is when, the father wakes up on the couch with a chest full of Cheerios, he has on the pointed hat of the KKK. The narrators of the spoof, who portray Cheerios marketing executives, then return with the comment that they are giving America what they want.
Even Deon Cole made a of the commercial in question. In Cole’s version. He keeps the mother and daughter interaction, only he plays the father. Once he wakes up to all the Cheerios, he shouts at the daughter for wasting food then asks the “White mother to clean up the mess”.
If there is anything to be said about the original controversy and the spoofs are that America is both more and less evolved than we thought. Cheerios is to be applauded for breaking the mold of so many marketing teams doing what works, sticking to such stagnant rules of an old America. The scene and social status of America is constantly changing yet television does little to portray that. It has taken years for black sitcoms to be aired on television and the ones that have made the cut seem mostly on all black television networks.
A sad fact in American television is the lack of accurately and appropriately representing real Americans as they are, be they of color or a different sexual orientation than the norm. The law has made blacks citizens and has since given homosexuals the right to marry so why not show the lives of happy American family in something so common as a commercial about cereal.
