Thursday, June 13, 2013

11202: More Chewing On Cheerios.

At Business Insider, a Jim Edwards piece spotlighted the MSNBC revelation that Grace Colbert, the kid in the “controversial” Cheerios commercial, actually is biracial—and her real mom and pops are White and Black, respectively. Not sure why this factoid is worth noting. It’s a safe bet that deliberate decisions were made by Saatchi & Saatchi, the White advertising agency behind the spot. That is, the shop either went into the production seeking to depict an interracial family—requiring the casting of a biracial child—or they were simply captivated by Ms. Colbert in the casting session and felt the need to find Black and White actors to portray her parents. It’s interesting that Saatchi & Saatchi and General Mills have not explained their motives. If the casting choices were premeditated, its kinda bullshit that Saatchi & Saatchi would make racial identity an attention-getting tactic to sell bland breakfast cereal. If the agency recognized Ms. Colbert’s biracial identity during the casting session and felt compelled to hire White and Black actors for the parent roles, well, that’s kinda bullshit too.

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