We know this article is several weeks late given that the Super Bowl was last month, but we just had to say something about the infamous Cheerios ad that had everybody talking.
Props to General Mills for deciding to bring back the interracial family that caused so much of a stir last May for their Super Bowl ad.
That took some guts and the company, along with the actors in the commercial, should be commended for not being swayed by ignorant people.
In case you weren't aware, the original ad features a black husband, a white mother and their bi-racial daughter.
In that ad, the daughter asks her white mother about the heart-health of Cheerios and, inspired by what her mother tells her about the benefits that the cereal can have on lowering cholesterol, which is good for the heart, the daughter pours a box of it all over her sleeping father's chest.
Incredibly sweet commercial and awesome because the adverting world finally came into the 21st century and made an ad that resembles how a lot of families are looking these days.
Interracial and inter-ethnic opposite-sex-couple households jumped by 28% from 2000 to 2010, according to the Census Bureau.
So, why in the world did it prompt so much racial backlash that General Mills had to disable the commenting feature on YouTube? Because racial hatred is still, as well all know quite well, alive in our great nation.
We can't say it enough...
this is 2014! Interracial dating and marriage are not just fads and interracial couples are not going away.
It is mind-boggling that anyone could take offense to this commercial.
How does a daughter caring enough about her father to try to help him with a gesture that is so endearing possibly conjure up the kind of anger that would make people spew out references to Nazis, troglodytes and racial genocide? It's beyond us, but that's exactly what happened.
We support freedom of speech but General Mills and YouTube did the right thing by turning off the comments.
And, not to add fuel to the fire, but you have to wonder if the ire would have been the same if the ad had featured a white husband, a black wife and a bi-racial child.
Of course, ignorant people still would have pitched a fit about it, but we're guessing that maybe the backlash might not have been as much.
There is still such a war against black men in this country.
So, you would think, in a time where Super Bowl ad spots are going for $4 million for 30 seconds of airtime,that General Mills would consider something a little less controversial, right? Wrong! They stuck with Cheerios and gave the brand its first-ever Super Bowl commercial instead.
And we love that General Mills went even bolder this time with the new ad! This time the family really gives bigots something to talk about as the father tells his daughter that mommy is expecting and that she's going to have a baby brother.
In typical kid fashion, the daughter takes the opportunity to bargain for a dog! This was great advertising because other than a box of Cheerios being on the table as the father and daughter have their discussion, the ad makes no real mention of the brand.
They got their message across very subtly yet powerfully.
Polls showed that many people said they would buy Cheerios just to support General Mills for making such a courageous move.
So, kudos to Cheerios for celebrating interracial marriage and families in a time when they're so prevalent.
That shows that at least some companies are starting to catch on.
It's time to herald our diversity rather than ignore it.
As of this writing, the ad had over 5.
3 million views on YouTube with over 26,000 "likes" and less than 3,000 "dislikes" which obviously speaks to how the majority of people feel about good advertising that sends the right signal.