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Wednesday May 7, 2008
Life Cereal Understands Me
I don’t know if you’ve seen this Life Cereal advertisement on TV in recent times, but it seems like it’s a brand-new campaign those Quaker Oats people have set in motion, showcasing real-life American families that center around a unitary theme of what appears to be the “new American household,” aiming to do away with the previously-held notion of the traditional American family (i.e. white, suburban, 2.5 kids, one son, one daughter, etc). Of the three families featured, the one that surprised me the most (not surprisingly) was the Oh family—but not for the reasons you might think, which I presume would’ve been for their “Asian-ness.” But, no, it was because the parents were an interracial couple. Yet, still, this alone would not have really provoked my immediate double-take. The real shock came, because, in the Oh family, the Asian person was the husband and white person was the wife. See for yourself: Go to www.lifecereal.com. Click on the “LIFE’s Families” tab at the top and then click on “Oh Family.” I was stunned. And I am still in the process of trying to get myself used to the idea. There is so much I’d like to say here at one time that I am at a loss for words, partially due to the fact that I don’t think it could all be spelled out here within the parameters of a simple blog post...of all the cultural implications, of all the social barometry, of all the breaking down of barriers, prejudices, and STEREOTYPES calling into question Asian male masculinity and our worthiness as a group to be considered “man” enough to pair-bond with the female gender of the establishment. And then to have an American corporation in an industry as non-controversial as breakfast cereal AND to have an American institution such as Life Cereal go out on a limb to publicly bring to the surface (on a national scale) an issue that probably hits way too close to home for all Asian males growing up and living in America today is kind of monumental and remarkable. Furthermore, for them to have featured it in a campaign under the banner of what the new American household looks like is, well, truly unprecedented and applause-worthy. What do you think? |
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Comments
I enjoy wathching "Jon & Kate plus 8." and tried to catch it every chance I get.