Cheerios commercial sparks controversy

I was astounded to read on the news how this Cheerios commercial became controversial. In the commercial, an adorable little girl asks her moms about whether or not Cheerios are good for your heart. When the mom confirms that fact, the little girl leaves the room. In the next scene, we see the dad wake up from a nap with a bunch of Cheerios on his chest.

My initial thoughts about the commercial

When I first saw the commercial I thought it was very cute. I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to commercials because there are so many dumb ones on TV nowadays. But, this commercial stood out to me because it was sweet and creative. I had no idea about the controversy it sparked until I read an article about it online a few weeks later.

Why was the commercial controversial?

The commercial was controversial because the family in the commercial is a mixed-race family. Yeah, you read that right. There were so many racist comments when the commercial was posted to the Cheerio’s YouTube channel that its comment section was disabled.

Camille Gibson, VP marketing for General Mills, stated they chose an interracial family because “Ultimately, we were trying to portray an American family, and there are lots of multicultural families in America today”. 

Did you know that the statistics for the number of interracial couples in the United States are at an all-time high? Today, 1 in 12 couples are of mixed-race. 

Nearly two-thirds of Americans said it “would be fine” with them if a member of their own family were to marry someone outside their own racial or ethnic group, according to a 2012 Pew Research study.

I still don't understand why the commercial was such an issue for some people. As for me, I love the commercial, and I give it an A+!

~Amanda