A new Cheerios commercial featuring a biracial family has received a serious backlash of racist comments.
The endearing 30-second Cheerios commercial, portraying an interracial couple and their biracial daughter attempting to “treat” her father with the cereal, generated so many racist and hateful responses that the Youtube comment section had to be closed the day after it appeared online, according to Time.
With over a quarter of a million views after it was uploaded Wednesday, it was imperative that the comments section be removed after threats and references to Nazis, “troglodytes” and “racial genocide” arose according to Adweek. While this comment section was shut down, haters have found a way to continue their bashing, leaving remarks on other Cheerios videos about the previously mentioned clip and another featuring African-American family.
According to to The Huffington Post, the Cheerios’ Facebook page was also a resource for these people to leave their negative comments, however it sparked a rebuttal of positive comments, expressing appreciation for the display of what many families look like now-a-days.
So how did Cheerios react to the Internet hate-fest? Camille Gibson, Cheerios Vice President of Marketing did not appear to be affected by any of the negative reactions, saying, "Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all."