June 6, 2014
General Mills Celebrates Pride With Inclusive New Lucky Charms Ad
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Nothing says "Happy Pride" like a big bowl of marshmallow rainbows and hearts.
General Mills' iconic sugary cereal, Lucky Charms, is celebrating Pride Month with the launch of its new #LuckytoBe campaign. On June 2, Lucky Charms posted a bright and colorful commercial to General Mills' YouTube channel called, "2014/Lucky To Be."
"Lucky Charms is launching its second #LuckyToBe campaign, celebrating individuality, diversity and inclusiveness and encouraging fans everywhere to share why they are #LuckyToBe," the video's description reads.
"We're lucky. We live in a colorful world full of colorful people," the message in the ad reads. "We don't all look the same, believe the same things, or love the same people. And that's a good thing. It makes our world more Interesting. Special. Beautiful. Magical. Let's celebrate. Share how you make the world colorful with #LuckyToBe."
The Lucky Charms' ad directs viewers to www.luckyto.be, a Tumblr which aggregates all the tweets with the hashtag, #LuckyToBe.
Lucky Charms also posted campaign images with the hashtag to its Facebook and has received a positive response:
"Love the campaign for lgbt equality. Will be buying some lucky charms now," one Facebook user wrote.
"Thanks for the Lucky To Be Campaign. Love it," another said.
Lucky Charms isn't the first food company to create an inclusive ad in 2014. Earlier this year Nabisco's Honey Maid created a similar campaign called "This is Wholesome," which features several non-traditional families including a family with two dads.
The ad came under fire from ultra-conservatives, however. In March American Family Association off-shoot group One Million Moms called out the graham cracker company, saying in a statement: "Nabisco should be ashamed of themselves for their latest Honey Maid and Teddy Graham cracker commercial where they attempt to normalize sin. Right away it shows two men with a baby, followed by other families, and ends with different families pictured including the one with two dads. This commercial not only promotes homosexuality, but then calls the scene in the advertisement wholesome."
The statement goes on to say: "Honey Maid is also using the hashtag #thisiswholesome. There is concern about the way this ad is pushing the LGBT agenda, but an even greater concern is the way that they are changing the meaning of the word 'wholesome.' This is truly sad. If this is what Honey Maid thinks is wholesome, then my family will no longer purchase Honey Maid or Nabisco products."
As if this writing, OMM and similar Christian groups have yet to take aim at Lucky Charms' campaign.... yet.
Stay tuned.
Watch the #LuckyToBe ad below:
