Watch: Ritz Crackers Commercial Features Same-Sex Couple

An ad for Ritz crackers is celebrating the holiday season with the message that "Where There's Love, There's Family" - and an ad that showcases a same-sex couple, NBC News reports.

The commercial "opens with a series of vignettes of people yearning for connection – a young gay man texting his mother to ask 'Can we talk?,' a child staying in a homeless shelter over Christmas, and a grandmother unable to celebrate the holidays with her family," NBC News recounts.

As the ad continues, a bearded Black man puts on lipstick, the child in the shelter offers a Ritz cracker topped with a slice of cheese to a fellow shelter occupant, and the grandmother enlivens a holiday party at her living facility with a tray of Ritz cracker hors d'oeuvres, and the young gay man arrives at the apartment of the African American man, bearing a box of the crackers as a gift.

The two are later seen to be a couple as they embrace and chat with friends around a holiday dinner table.

"The holidays are about spending time with family," a narrator says. "Whether it's the one you're born into - or the one you make."

"Where there's love, there's family," the narrator adds, inviting viewers to "Join us in helping create a more welcoming world."

NBC News reported that in addition to a prominent African-American character, transgender actors were cast as extras.

The parent company of Ritz Crackers is Mondelez, which is also the parent company of Oreo cookies. Oreo partnered last month with PFLAG to create the "Proud Parent" ad campaign that also centered around family - and included a short film about a young woman introducing her girlfriend to her parents during a holiday visit, eventually finding that her father supports and accepts them both.

"At a time when our families may be strained as a result of social distancing, political tensions or personal orientations and identities, the Ritz brand's campaign is intended to encourage Americans to help build a more accepting world and welcome in those that may be feeling disconnected or alone," said Mondelez senior marketing director Patty Gonzalez in a release the company issued about the new ad campaign.

Mondelez is not alone in creating inclusive messaging for its holiday season advertising. As reported previously at EDGE, e-commerce site Etsy recently aired a holiday-themed ad that features a same-sex couple. In that ad, an African-American man brings his boyfriend home to meet his extended family. The "new guy" is welcomed into the family and the couple celebrated with a hand-crafted gift.

Watch the Ritz Cracker ad below.