Are The Ads Mostly A Lie?

Over the last decade we have become accustomed to seeing advertisements depicting mixed-race married couples with children to sell their product.

Source: https://www.newson6.com/story/5e363cc12f69d76f620597b9/adorable-star-of-cheerios-commercial-hails-from-oklahoma

Source: https://www.newson6.com/story/5e363cc12f69d76f620597b9/adorable-star-of-cheerios-commercial-hails-from-oklahoma

This ad for Cheerios that aired during the 2013 Super Bowl was one of the first that made a point of highlighting a multi-race married couple and a biracial child named "Gracie".

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J_M2qa4xh0

This is the real life family of "Gracie" who was played by Grace Colbert in the ad.

(child on the right in the photo).

 

Source: https://www.newson6.com/story/5e363cc12f69d76f620597b9/adorable-star-of-cheerios-commercial-hails-from-oklahoma

It seems the advertisers want to cover all the bases in one ad.

Has there been a better acting gig the last few years than to be a cute biracial child?

In fact, it seem it has become rare to ever see a white married man and woman with 2.2  children in a any tv ad.

The fact is that there are some successful mixed race marriages involving a Black man and white woman and three happy children in the family.

However, it is extremely rare if you look at the data.

First of all, mixed race marriages have increased in the United States but they are still rare.

This is portrayed as common place in advertising.

What are the actual numbers?

Only 7% of the 63 million married couples in the United States are mixed race.

63% of married couples in the United States are both white.

6% of married couples are both Black.

12% of married couples are both Hispanic.

Biracial children living in family unit with a married man and woman is even rarer.

Most are aware of the extraordinary number of out of wedlock births among African Americans.

 

70% of all births of Black children are born out of wedlock according to the most recent CDC data.

The comparable number for Whites is 27%.

For Asians it is 12%.

In 1940, the out of wedlock birth rate for Blacks was 15%.

However, what I recently found interesting is that the out of wedlock birth percentage when a Black father and White mother are involved is an astounding 97%!

The out of wedlock percent for a Black father and Hispanic mother is 95%. 

With a Black father and Asian mother it is 85%.

The overall out of wedlock percentage of a biracial child with a Black father is 92%.

This data is contained in a study that was published in 2015 involving birth trends, family structure, economic stability, paternal relationships and emotional stability of biracial children with African American fathers.

Those numbers make the 70% percent out of wedlock percent for Black children look good.

Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/393060433/92-Absent-Black-Fathers-with-Biracial-Children

This is an excerpt from an article that summarized the findings of the study.

Source: https://x.com/Rothmus/status/1946606747856015487

The study did find that in 20% of the situations involving the out of wedlock births of a Black father and White mother, a marriage eventually did occur.

That is a much better number than occurred with the out of wedlock births to Asian and Hispanic mothers with a Black father.

In fact, in only 1% of the cases involving an out of wedlock birth of a child to a Black father and Hispanic mother does the couple end up getting married!

Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/393060433/92-Absent-Black-Fathers-with-Biracial-Children

Consider all of the above when you see the next advertisement that showcases a happy and prosperous biracial family enjoying the product that the advertiser has spent millions of dollars in producing and placing the commercial.

Those families do exist somewhere.

However, the data would suggest that the happily married couple with biracial kids might be akin to finding a black swan.

The advertising might want us to believe that these children are living an idyllic life with a loving mother and father. However, the data in the study suggests most are living with a single mother on welfare and a father who is not present and not supporting the mother and child financially

.

H.G. Wells went so far as to refer to advertising this way which could possibly be said about these families with biracial children in tv commercials.

I would not go that far in that I was in charge of corporate marketing and advertising for a Fortune 500 company at one time in my career. 

However, it should be kept in mind advertising is about creating an aspirational view of what the world should look like rather than the reality of what it really is.

The flood of biracial commercials we have seen over the last decade when compared to the actual data does make it clear that there is more theater than reality and more art than science behind these ads.