{"id":46711,"date":"2012-04-27T11:59:46","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T16:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=46711"},"modified":"2017-09-17T14:22:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T19:22:23","slug":"the-mixed-race-milk-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/04\/27\/the-mixed-race-milk-bite\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mixed-Race Milk Bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cross-posted at Brad’s Blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here are a few commercials for the new MilkBite\u2122 from Kraft. They play on stereotypes about mixed-race individuals.<\/p>\n

[youtube]https:\/\/youtu.be\/ffkDRynWAMw[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

Here is a transcription:<\/p>\n

You didn’t think, did you? You, uh, didn’t think what life was going to be like for me — mom, dad — for your son<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In another commercial, the characters have the following conversation:<\/p>\n

I just have a question. Your profile said you were milk.
\nUh huh, yep, I am.
\nYou just look like granola.
\nGranola, yeah, I know. I get that a lot. This was a mistake.
\nNo, wait. Please don’t go. I’m kinda into it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are other spots on\u00a0Kraft’s YouTube page<\/a>, most playing on these same themes. The problem with a marketing campaign like this is that it trivializes the experience of people with multiple racial\/ethnic identities who are still often met with derision and confusion. The first ad above perpetuates the self-fulfilling prophecy about “confused” identities.\u00a0As a child, I remember family members telling me that they didn’t have a problem with interracial couples but worried about how others might react to their children.<\/p>\n

In my classroom earlier this year, a young white woman expressed overt anger when I told the class that the 2010<\/del>\u00a02000 Census, for the first time, allowed individuals to check more than one racial category. “How can they do that?!!” she demanded to know. Living in a country with a president who had a black father and an white mother complicates all of this. Beyond the standard “post-racial America” narrative, Pres. Obama’s racial identity — even though\u00a0he identifies only as black<\/a>\u00a0— means that people feel entitled to be dismissive of the problems that come with our increasingly complex constructions of race.<\/p>\n

Anita Sarkeesian at Feminist Frequency\u00a0points out<\/a>\u00a0that the marketers are likely fully aware of the inappropriate nature of these types of campaigns, and in fact, that is precisely why they launch them. They are seen as ironic, over-the-top, cynical, and tongue-in-cheek. It’s “they know that I know that they know” that it’s racist. It’s a virtual “wink and a nod.” Lisa Wade at SocImages\u00a0points out<\/a>\u00a0that it’s a\u00a0“no-one-will-ever-believe-we’re-serious” mindset. Sadly, not all people are in on the joke and will find their bigotry and ignorance reinforced, but the rest of us should know better than to perpetuate racism, even under the guise of humor.<\/p>\n

————————<\/p>\n

Bradley Koch is a sociologist at\u00a0Georgia College<\/a>. He\u00a0is currently the co-director of the\u00a0study abroad program<\/a>\u00a0based in Athens, Greece.\u00a0 His research interests include religion, sexuality, higher education, and teaching and learning.\u00a0In his free time, Brad enjoys\u00a0making music<\/a>\u00a0and riding his road bike around rural Georgia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted at Brad’s Blog. Here are a few commercials for the new MilkBite\u2122 from Kraft. They play on stereotypes about mixed-race individuals. [youtube]https:\/\/youtu.be\/ffkDRynWAMw[\/youtube] Here is a transcription: You didn’t think, did you? You, uh, didn’t think what life was going to be like for me — mom, dad — for your son. In another commercial, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[223,23703,283,285],"class_list":["post-46711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-childrenyouth","tag-marketing","tag-prejudicediscrimination","tag-raceethnicity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46711"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71499,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46711\/revisions\/71499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}