Cheerios' Commercial for Super Bowl 2014 Brings Back Interracial Family That Sparked Controversy (VIDEO)

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 30, 2014

Cheerios' commercial for Super Bowl XXLVIII will reprise what has been perhaps their most controversial spot in years— the General Mills brand cereal will bring back the actors that played an interracial family. Their last ad sparked vitriol and racial insensitivity from some on the internet that disapprove of biracial families, but this time the brand is going bigger with their first ever ad during the Super Bowl.

The Cheerios ad brought back the black father, white mother and their biracial child, Gracie, for another look at how the cereal has become part of their lives. In this 30-second spot that's already been viewed over a million times, the father reveals to his cute daughter that she will soon have a little brother.

"Pretty soon, you're going to have a baby brother," the father says, adding a fourth Cheerio to the three that represent the family.

Although the little girl is at first dismayed, she decides that a deal can be made to help things along.

"And, a puppy," Gracie says. "It's a deal," the dad responds, to the surprise of the mother.

Although the brand did not intend to capitalize on controversy during their first look at the family— the commercial last May showed Gracie pouring cereal on her father's chest because Cheerios is "good for the heart"— they have benefitted. Cheerios received many positive comments on social media that outweighed the negative ones.

The overwhelmingly positive response to the Cheerios ad led them to revisit the family in the brand's first ever Super Bowl ad, which will air during the first timeout of the game, a General Mills representative told The New York Times.

"Like millions of Americans, we just fell in love with this family," Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for Cheerios at General Mills, told the Times Tuesday. "The big game provided another opportunity to tell another story about family love."

The original commercial starring actress Gracie Colbert was viewed on YouTube 4.7 million times. The comments section, which was the initial breeding ground for anonymous vitriol, is still disabled.