The Mixed-race MilkBite™Posted in Articles, Communications/Media Studies, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2012-04-20 02:11Z by Steven |
Brad’s Blog: musings on sociology, religion, higher ed, and whatever else is going on in my life
2012-04-16
Bradley Koch, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Georgia College & State University
Here are a few commercials for the new MilkBite™ from Kraft. They play on stereotypes about mixed-race individuals.
There are other spots on Kraft’s YouTube page, 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. As a child, I remember my own parents telling me that they didn’t have a problem with interracial couples but worried about how others might react to their children. The second ad exotifies (exoticizes?) mixed-race identities…
Read the entire essay here.