Cheerios Commercial Controversy

Response to Cheerios Commercial Controversy

I miss a lot of commercials because I mainly watch my shows from my DVR and fast forward thru the commercials. I became aware of the Cheerios Commercial Controversy after talking to my mom. I was stunned and in shock that people were up in arms over a multi-racial family being cast in Cheerios’ latest commercial . It is 2013 and people are still having issues when companies are reflecting a happy family because of the color and races represented together. If you have not seen the original commercial, you can view it here.

The Commercial that started the Cheerios Commercial Controversy

Although I did not see the You Tube video immediately after the commercial release, The You Tube video had 1,600 likes and 500 dislikes on May 30th (according to the Huffington Post). I know it shouldn’t surprise me but how someone can dislike something just because of race and color is beyond me. My children have never questioned a multi-cultural family and when you truly think about it most families are multi-cultural even if they are the same “color.” I use the word “color” loosely because I don’t know any family, that if you were to line them all up, would all be the same skin tone.

The controversy over the Cheerios Commercial didn’t stop with people disliking a You Tube video. It spilled over into racial comments, complaints and slurs on their Facebook and You Tube Page. The comments got so out of control that Cheerios was forced to disable comments on their Social Media Networks. I was excited to hear that General Mills did not back down and refused to remove the ad.  The Vice President of Marketing, stated they felt like they were reflecting a real American Family. I couldn’t agree more and think that those who say it is not are only trying to placate how they feel about themselves.

Upon looking at the Cheerios You Tube Video tonight,you will see that many more are happy with the video than those that aren’t. The likes are up to 40,641 and dislikes are only at 2.026. The video has been viewed more than 3,295,197 times and I am sure the number will continue to rise. The question still remains if General Mills (or other companies) will  feature multi-racial families in future ads. I hope and pray that they do and don’t cave to the likes of those that seek to stop change.

 

Let me know what you think about the Cheerios Commercial Controversy, Leave a comment below!