Why We’re Thrilled About The New Cheerios Commercial

It was announced earlier this week that the interracial family (cast) that starred in the controversial Cheerios ad a few months ago, will appear again in a new Cheerios commercial that will be aired during the Super Bowl this coming weekend. We’re thrilled to hear this news – and it is extremely exciting for a number of reasons. We previously wrote about the Cheerios commercial here – if you didn’t catch the controversy surrounding the initial commercial. The commercial that started it all titled, “Just Checking“, has received over 4 million views on YouTube. The commenting section is disabled due to a wide spread backlash that contained many racial and harmful comments from viewers. We were deeply saddened to see these reactions from people – although it did open up a much larger, important conversation for us: the importance of representation of interracial families.

So, we were thrilled to hear the news that our favorite Cheerios family is back in a new commercial titled, “Gracie” that will be aired during this Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is known for placing prominence on their advertising and advertisers pay top dollar to have their commercials run during the game. The advertisements garner just as much hype as the game! Millions of viewers will be tuning in and seeing this commercial on Sunday.

This is a really big step towards recognizing interracial relationships and families. Interracial relationships have increased by 28% between 2000 and 2010 – and the need to represent mixed couples, families and relationships is much needed and is currently much under-represented. In the commercial (that you can watch above), the family talks about how they are growing with the addition of a little brother! This is another sign that families are growing, and becoming a more prominent presence in the world – it sheds a positive light on family love. We are really looking forward to seeing this commercial air on Sunday night.

What are your thoughts about this? How do you think this commercial will be received? Do you think that it will receive the same backlash as the first commercial did? We’d love to hear your thoughts!