Soap operas do it. Videos do it. So why can't a television ad do it?

Feature an interracial couple, that is.

It may perplex some but a new Cheerios ad that began running last Monday on national television has drawn so much anger over the race of the three actors that, according to a report in The New York Times, the company had to disable comments under its YouTube post last week.

The commercial features a girl asking her white mother if Cheerios is good for the heart, then dumping the box of cereal on her sleeping father, who is black.

Now, in addition to the Cheerios YouTube post – under which comments "devolved into an endless flame war, with references to Nazis, 'troglodytes' and 'racial genocide'" according to a story in Adweek.com before they were pulled – angry viewers have migrated to new comments sections. Racists and angry commenters are continuing their diatribes under other YouTube posts as well as under the Adweek piece, a story on CBSNews.com and a New York Daily News story.

Cereal Partners Worldwide, a venture of General Mills and Nestle, markets cereal in 130 countries worldwide. (General Mills)

But for every one angry viewer, there are more than 18 others who like the spot. That is, at least, the message from the approval/disapproval counter on the YouTube video, which continues to register likes and dislikes. As of 8 p.m. Sunday, there were more 1,329 "thumbs down" compared to 19,374 "thumbs up."

Over the past few decades, the number of interracial households has steadily climbed. According to census data, in 2010 there were more than 2.4 million interracial married couples in the United States – about four percent of all married couples in the country. That compares with about 1.5 million in 2000 and just 651,000 in 1980.

What do you think about this commercial? Share your views with us in comments.

Janita Poe is Montgomery community news director for Alabama Media Group. Follow Janita and her team on Twitter @alcomMontgomeryand like their Facebook fan page, al.com in Montgomery.