Cheerios Commercial Featuring Interracial Family Gets Racist Backlash [VIDEO]
A Cheerios commercial featuring an interracial family was met with so much racist backlash online that the company closed off its comment section on Youtube.
In the Just Checking commercial for the cereal, a biracial girl is shown speaking to her white mother about the health effects of Cheerios. The mother tells her daughter that the cereal is good for the heart. The little girl then happily ran away with the box of cereal. The camera then pans to the girl's father, a black man who is sleeping on the couch. When the father gets up, he has noticed that his daughter poured the entire box of Cheerios on his chest in order to give him a healthy heart.
As of Friday, the video generated more than 3,000 likes and over 600 dislikes on Youtube. However, the comments were suspended because of racist comments that littered the page. AdWeek reported Thursday that there were references to Nazis, "troglodytes" and "racial genocide."
Questionable commentary was also found on the Cheerios Facebook page.
"More like single parent in the making. Black dad will dip out soon," wrote user Michael Dispigno.
Others were quick to praise the commercial for featuring the interracial family. They cited it as a sign of progress. Some promised to buy even more boxes of Cheerios.
"Having been mixed in the '70s, I'd like to thank everyone at Cheerios for making a commercial with an interracial couple! Going to buy boxes today! Many thanks for reflecting what my family looked like," Beschelle Lockhart posted Monday.
Cheerios remained undaunted by the backlash the advent had received. Camille Gibson, Cheerios vice president of marketing, released a statement to Gawker. Gibson said that the company was happy that the commercial reflected the diversity of families.
"Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all," she said.
Watch the commercial below.