June 2, 2013

"RACE DOESN'T MATTER!"

Ask some Obama haters. Some raise their voices at the suggestion that race is still an issue in this country. (I've seen this in person.) Others saw it in March at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

This week, General Foods proved otherwise after it launched its commercial, "Just Checking," and posted it to YouTube.


Gawker wrote late on Thursday:

A nice Cheerios advertisement whose only discernible difference from other Cheerios commercials is that it depicts an interracial family was forced to disable its YouTube comments section today after it became inundated with virulent racism.

Slate offered a printable sample: “If the dad was stereotypical black, I don't think they would have needed more than 2 actors for the commercial.”

General Mills responded:

The ad will “absolutely not” be withdrawn, Meredith Tutterow, associate marketing director for Cheerios and Multigrain Cheerios at General Mills in Golden Valley, Minn., said Friday.

“There are many kinds of families,” Ms. Tutterow said, “and Cheerios just wants to celebrate them all.”

The Cheerios Facebook page is full of smiles. By Friday morning, "thumbs up" comments were outpacing the negatives by over five to one. So hey, maybe those conservatives at CPAC were right that race doesn't matter. At least for growing number of Americans who have no problem with mixed-race families and mixed-race presidents.

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