[VIDEO] New Cheerios Effect Ad Campaign Celebrates Family Bonds of All Kinds

Last year Cheerios unwittingly divided a nation with a sweet little commercial about a family that happens to be biracial – there were a lot of internet commenters willing to come out of the woodwork in the year 2014 and declare themselves totally not okay with the idea of this family appearing on their TV. General Mills could have backed down and quietly pulled the commercial to avoid offending any potential consumers. But instead they doubled down on their faith in their consumer base, putting their fictional family front and center in a sequel ad in the middle of this year’s Superbowl. It solidified Cheerios as a champion of families of all shapes and sizes, and the brand hasn’t looked back since.

This week Cheerios has launched a new ad spot for its “Cheerios Effect” campaign, based on an actual physics term to describe the way that small floating objects gravitate toward each other due to surface tension and buoyancy properties. The effect is named for the way that Cheerios floating in a bowl of milk will find and cling to each other in a clump.

Cheerios’ new “Cheerios Effect” ad campaign, conceived by Canadian ad agency Cossette Toronto, uses that concept as a metaphor for people who are drawn together to form families. Its first ad in the campaign features Canadian couple André and Jonathan describing first how they were drawn to each other, and then how they came to adopt their young daughter Raphaëlle to form their family as it is today.

Further ads in the campaign highlight a couple drawn together by music, another couple drawn together in spite of language barriers, a woman’s bond with her rescue dog, and true friendship between cousins.

Each one further cements the Cheerios brand in a viewpoint of positivity and love (and breakfast), and positions it as the leading breakfast cereal for families however they are drawn together. Check them all out here.

[SOURCE: Ad Week]