• The Associated Press, Monday, March 2, 2009 9:32 AM

These days, television regularly airs commercials that show Americans of different races and ethnicities interacting in integrated schools, country clubs, workplaces and homes, bonded by their love of the products they consume. For instance, the latest spot from ETrade stars a 9-month-old white boy, and his newest buddy - a black infant.

"Multiculti" ads recognize a new cultural mainstream that prizes diversity, a recognition that we are fast approaching a day when the predominant hue in America will no longer be white. But some critics wonder if depicting America as a racial nirvana may have an unintended downside of airbrushing out of the public consciousness the chasms that still separate whites, blacks and Latinos.

Advertisers would do better to focus on a cultural approach easily adapted to highly individualized tastes, say critics. For instance, how do hip-hoppers feel? What are the common desires of surfers, or skateboarders, or kayakers? "With young people who've grown up biracially or surrounded by different cultures and races, it's more about what connects them," than the race of the people being portrayed, says Karl Carter, CEO of marketing agency GTM.

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