Cultural Context and Race

        The cultural text I chose to connect to our race unit was a television advertisement for the well-known cereal brand, Cheerio’s. The television advertisement originally aired as one of the commercials shown during the 2013 Super bowl. The Cheerio’s commercial is fairly brief, lasting only about thirty seconds long. In the commercial, a mother is shown telling her adorable little daughter how Cheerio’s cereal helps keep your heart nice and healthy. Taking it literally, the commercial then shows the adorable little girl putting Cheerio’s inside her napping dad’s shirt to keep his heart healthy. Despite the seemingly innocent storyline depicted by the commercial, the television advertisement sparked a major controversy after its original debut during the 2013 Super bowl. How could such a simple and sweet commercial create such an uproar, you ask? Ironically, the seemingly innocent and sweet Cheerio’s commercial caused such a controversial stir solely because the family shown in it was interracial. After watching the Cheerio’s television advertisement, I recognized several connections to our unit’s topic of race. In the following essay, I will examine the role of race in various advertisements as well as the impact these advertisements have on society’s perception of reality. Using ideas from Takaki and Rothenberg, I will argue that multicultural advertisements both reflect the current perceptions of reality and culture of our society today as well as shaping the future reality of our society.

Initially, I was both disgusted and surprised by the amount of controversy and negative feedback the Cheerio’s commercial received simply because it showed an interracial family,

Television advertisements like the Cheerio’s commercial are considered fairly new in comparison to other types of advertisements. Although the majority of today’s advertisements are done through the use of television, these commercials did not exist until the invention of the television in 1927. Prior to this invention, advertisements were more commonly seen in a printed format. Although there are several different types of advertisements, all are similar in that they reflect society’s constantly changing cultural attitudes as well as society’s changing perceptions of what reality can be defined as.

        When I first heard about the major uproar the Cheerio’s commericial caused as a result of itinterracial family