Cheerios and Loving

A few weeks ago there was a bit of hubbub regarding a new Cheerios ad. It features an adorable bi-racial moppet questioning her white mother about heart health, then shows her black father waking up with Cheerios all over his chest. Apparently this was an affront to the white supremacists among us, who–drooling and farting all the way–made their ways to their keyboards to express disapproval on twitter and the internet generally. General Mills–being decent, actually–stands by their ad.

I read a blog entry about this controversy recently wherein the author claims the ad stands out like a sore thumb. Well, yes and no. If you watch carefully, there are lots and lots of ads featuring interracial couples. The only reason this really stands out at all is because this particular permutation of the interracial couple is one you don’t see too often (in ads)–a black man and a white woman. And I wonder, is it this particular coupling–the black man and the white woman–that makes the bigots crap themselves? In 2013, are we still dealing with the fear of the big black penis? Because, WOW.