As I just watched yet another interracial couple featured in a Progressive Insurance ad, (you know, the ones where the kids start turning into their parents) I get a Facebook notification that the New York Times has noticed all the interracial couples in advertisements just like we do.

Tide commercial featuring an IR couple

In an article published on June 3, the paper announced, “Recently, companies and brands like JPMorgan Chase, Humira, State Farm, Smile Direct Club, Coors Light, Macy’s, Tide and Cadillac have featured multiracial couples or families in their advertising.” They attribute this trend as a sign that these actions are clear signs a “modern society,” where marketers are steering away from the white, heterosexual nuclear family, complete with a boy, girl, and a dog. It’s all about the Kum by ya, man!

While these articles might make us feel warm and fuzzy that companies are trying to actually see what the country is REALLY looking like, I argue that is not the primary motivation.

Companies do not represent a demographic in their advertising if that group of people won’t make them any money. Liquor companies don’t market to eight-year-olds. Makeup companies aren’t targeting middle-aged males who like to golf. These companies know damn well which way the wind is blowing, and if they ignore the units of people that can make them money, they won’t last through the next decade.

Adorable Chase commercial following this boy and girl throughout their lives

As we have reported many times, the increase in interracial marriage has skyrocketed alongside with the rise of the internet and online dating. The world is forever made smaller, now that humans are no longer confined to seek mates within their family, social, cultural and geographic limitations. What is really not being reported is that less politically correct truth that the bean counters in the basement are crunching the numbers and telling the corporate bigwigs that they will be leaving money on the table if they refuse to reflect which couples are the highest earners.

Neilson knows. Just check out this study about who the next generation’s big spenders are going to look like.

Follow Christelyn on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you want to be a little more about this online dating thing, InterracialDatingCentral is the official dating site for this blog.