It’s an undeniably adorable commercial where a young girl rushes into her kitchen, box of Cheerios in hand and asks her mother if the product is “good for your heart.” She smiles and runs off after her mother’s affirmative response, and we see that she has covered her father’s chest with the cereal, in a loving but misguided attempt to look out for his health.

Though the advertisement is indeed heartwarming, it would be virtually indistinguishable from any other made by Cheerios were it not for the fact that the family it features is interracial. The precious little girl that we see is the mixed-race child of a Caucasian mother and an African-American father.

As of Tuesday, June 18, the ad had received over 3,500,000 views on YouTube, and drew such an overwhelming backlash of racism that the video’s comments section had to be closed. Although the outpouring of intolerance can no longer be viewed, the comments were littered with “references to Nazis,’ ‘troglodytes’ and ‘racial genocide,'” according to AdWeek.

The controversy surrounding the commercial has not only called attention to the continued existence of racial prejudice in American society, but to the unfortunate results of Internet anonymity. YouTube comments sections have long been the realm of online “trolls” who post inflammatory remarks without retribution.

I first became personally familiar with such individuals back in 2009, shortly after the launch of the website Chatroulette. One evening, lacking anything better to do, an African-American friend and I visited the site. At one point, we found ourselves face to face with a young Caucasian man who looked to be relatively nondescript otherwise. The only word that left this seemingly typical individual’s mouth was a racial slur, directed towards my friend. I wondered aloud if he would have used such language if there hadn’t been a screen between us.

Incidents like this one, as well as the negative reaction to the recent Cheerios’ commercial, are indicative of a shift in America’s racial conversation. While racist sentiments were once often espoused in the flesh, the modern cultural climate has created a new brand of underhanded and covert bigotry.

“I think with political correctness, what’s happened is that a lot of people feel a lot more negative about different things than they actually say, because they’re smart enough to know not to say it,” Teresa Mastin, DePaul professor and director of the university’s graduate program for public relations and advertising, said . “What’s important is that we have these conversations with a lot of different people, and really get down to the bottom of what it is that people fear.”

Many of us in America like to think that we inhabit a “post-racial” society, but our nation as we know it is not far removed from the ugly history of race relations of which we live in perpetual denial. With that in mind, I find it unsurprising that an advertisement depicting an interracial family has raised the ire of the citizens of the same country that still had one state ‒ Alabama ‒ that did not officially recognize the legality of interracial marriage until 2000.

There are thus two different ways to look at the recent Cheerios commercial through the lens of racism in the United States. One is to point out how the reaction to the ad demonstrates the endurance of prejudice.

The other, however, would be to recognize the fact that the ad itself is a bold step in the right direction.

“I’m just glad that there’s a positive image out there,” Mastin said.

Cheerios has remained undaunted by the Internet comments. Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for the company, told the blog Gawker in a statement: “Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all.”

Cheerios’ subtle acknowledgement and inclusion of interracial families through their advertisement and their refusal to compromise their stance is commendable. As we live in a society that is undeniably more multicultural than ever before, the only way to take greater strides towards true integration is to engage one another in honest, personal interaction.

As Mastin said, “Now we’re talking about it … and hopefully we’re having some real, honest conversations about it, and we can actually make change as opposed to just keeping the status quo going.”