[youtube=http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kYofm5d5Xdw]<\/p>\n
by<\/span>\u00a0Jorge Rivas<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen interracial couples on television for decades but corporate companies have largely stayed away from including them in advertising.<\/span><\/p>\n The sitcom \u201cI Love Lucy,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0which premiered<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0in 1951, was the first television program to feature an interracial couple starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. In 1975, \u201cThe Jeffersons\u201d also featured one of the first black and white couples on TV with\u00a0Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker), neighbors of George and Louise Jefferson. More recently shows like \u201cBoy Meets World,\u201d \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d and \u201cScandal\u201d have featured interracial couples in leading roles.<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier this week Cheerios released a commercial featuring an\u00a0interracial couple and their daughter and you\u2019d think it would be no big deal since we\u2019ve seen interracial couples on TV for decades. Not so.<\/span><\/p>\n The ad, posted to YouTube on Tuesday, received such a negative response that Cheerios had to close the comments section on the video sharing site. The ad also made it to<\/span>\u00a0Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0where the discussion thread is still thriving with bigoted comments.<\/span><\/p>\n Cord Jefferson at<\/span>\u00a0Gawker<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0highlited the following racist comment on Reddit:\u00a0\u201cShoving multi-culturism down our throats when we know it fails.. awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s been 46-years since the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that\u00a0prohibiting marriage between people classified as \u201cwhite\u201d and people classified as \u201ccolored\u201d was unconstitutional. The case, Loving vs. Virginia, led to a decision that ruled\u00a0all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States were unconstitutional.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the court ruling and more than half a century of interracial couples on TV, the bigotry (at least online) is still alive and thriving.<\/span><\/p>\n Tim Nudd at\u00a0<\/span>Ad Age<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0points out that the controversy may stem from people just not being used to seeing interracial couples in ads that are lobbying for their dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is that TV ads have always lagged TV programming in this regard, as so many brands are clearly scared of being perceived as making a political statement with the casting of their commercials,\u201d\u00a0Nudd write at<\/span>\u00a0AdAge<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0\u201dThus, the Cheerios ad, despite its characters being representative of tens of thousands of actual couples in America, sticks out like a sore thumb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The good news is that there are some people complaining the ad doesn\u2019t go far enough.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEvery commercial with an interracial family show a black man and white woman. You never see Asians or Native Americans or Mexicans or even a white man with a black woman,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0wrote one user on Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/span>. \u201cI\u2019m not satisfied with the family, they need to be more interracial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n