Cultural Context and RaceEssay Preview: Cultural Context and RaceReport this essayThe 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
, I asked myself, “what are the chances of not even liking the Cheerio’s commercial?”. The answer was, “if you are not being watched by other people and have the opportunity to interact with a diverse world around you, you might.” This has made a lot of difference in the lives of other individuals and the lives of the family. It has also increased the chances of not liking those commercials that were produced for a specific race or gender. With all the recent publicity about Cheerio’s commerical, I felt my own feelings towards them were changing, due to all the publicity that the Cheerio’s commercial did. For example, before I received the Cheerio’s advertisement and heard the ad, I was scared. The Cheerio’s ad was in Spanish, which made it difficult to understand, but I never forgot it. And although I am currently in a “mixed race” relationship with Tehla, it was a very pleasant surprise! This was the day after the commercial aired, and the family came with me to see me after having been there for almost two years with Tehla. I was impressed by the family and the positive reaction that were delivered to their ad. I found myself agreeing with all about it. However, after a few weeks, even after being with them for over two months, a few times that I was not convinced of how to respond, I started to make sense from this. As opposed to seeing a person of color or a person of colour without being treated as a “human being” to begin with, if I am not treated with the same respect and respect for racial and ethnic considerations as my Tehla family, then I am treated differently. I think this is because of many negative experiences about both their treatment of other people and their treatment of themselves and their families. If you were a Cheerio’s commercial, and the people watching your commercial were your Tehla family, then it is a hard thing to swallow to think that the behavior and feelings are different. Some of my fellow human beings may believe all this because Tehla is an American Indian (e.g. my daughter’s), and it seems to me and others that the behavior of other people of color (e.g. my daughter’s) are different from people of color in regards to their experiences with different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The fact that our current family members may think that the behavior of Tehla and Tehla’s is different than those of all racial and ethnic backgrounds and those of other races, is nothing in comparison to human beings. However, because my wife and I do not interact with people of color in the same manner, we cannot have the same reactions to us to begin with. The interaction between my husband and my parents is not the same as having an open discussion on whether Tehla could or should get to speak to my parents. However, if there is a common understanding in the world that both my husband and my parents also share the same level of intelligence on most subjects and culture, which I believe most Asian and Asian Pacific Peoples share, then, it would be the same. I don’t get to have that conversation outside the family because I want my brother to be able to connect with my parents while they live in a multicultural community in this western country that is multicultural, and that he is part of a different race than our Tehla family. If I am to speak to my my parents in the same manner that my father does, I want them to understand