ABSTRACT
It seemed innocuous; but there was some uproar over the nature of the commercial. A little girl asks her mother if Cheerios were healthy for her daddy’s heart (Demby, 2013). The next scene shows the father waking up from a nap on the couchwith amound of Cheerios stacked on top of his chest. What could be the controversy of such an endearing portrayal of a child’s innocence yet deep understanding of care for her parents? The family was biracial. While this ad came and went, as did the ‘‘likes’’ and ‘‘dislikes’’ on Facebook and YouTube (there were more likes than dislikes), it still carries significant meaning for the topic of culture and identity. That same year there was another controversy regarding Coca-Cola’s advertisement that aired during the 2013 Super Bowl. It was a multicultural mix of people from all walks of life singing ‘‘America the Beautiful’’ in various languages. Again,most of the commentary was positive, but the bad press lingered in the background (Poniewozik, 2014). In both cases, the issue of identity-one national and the other racial-were challenged (Box 3.1).
