Zach Rosenberg has seen some terrible ads about incompetent fathers. This Cheerios ad is the exact opposite. Prepare to behold greatness.
General Mills Canada knocked one out of the park with their commercial for Peanut Butter Cheerios that started airing this week.
In the commercial titled “#HowToDad” by Toronto agency Tribal Worldwide, we see a dad. Owning it. Hard. Hashtag. Et cetera.
Here’s the full version of the commercial, coming in at 2:12:
“The Cereal category is traditionally more of a health-oriented ‘Mom’ space – even though recent studies show that men do nearly half of the family’s grocery shopping, nothing in the Cereal aisle has ever truly spoken to Dads,” said General Mills director of Marketing, Jason Doolan in the press release. “We’ve set out to change that by celebrating what it means to be an awesome dad.”
Arguably, the only cereals that have typically spoken to men are ones that address heart disease – namely, Cheerios.
I don’t know much about the commercial treatment of dads in Canada. That’s why I turned to Canadian Dad Chris Read, who told me that “it’s definitely a better commercial than most. We just don’t have the negative dad vibe in most of our commercials.”
But the dad in the #HowToDad spot isn’t just a role model for Canadian fathers – the fast-talking, got-it-together dad is well-scripted. But it’s natural. He’s happy to be a dad. He’s “proud of it – and all dads should be.”
These are some of my favorite lines from the commercial:
“We lead by example, we blow their minds.”
“Hot stuff comin’ through – the wife and the coffee.”
“Suggestion – that’s a boy [sliding son’s hat to the side], that’s a man [sliding son’s hat forward-facing].”
“When you’re a dad, hugs can be bear-hugs. But they can also be high-fives, fist-bumps and next-level handshakes.”
“Now, dadhood isn’t always easy. When a rule is broken, we’re the enforcement…but when a heart is broken, we’re the reinforcement.”
Worst line of the commercial? “Because being a dad is awesome. Just like new Peanut Butter Cheerios…are awesome.” WOOF.
There had to be another way to wedge a product into such a great manifesto. Just having the dad walk around with the box was good enough for me. Brand recognition these days doesn’t need to be so heavy-handed.
Speaking of heavy-handed, the video wants you to end up on HowToDad.ca (Canadian Internet!), a Tumblr posting all sorts of infographics and sharable content. Some of it is funny, loving and sweet (see below), some of it’s not. Had most of it been done by someone other than a company, you’d be seeing it on your Facebook wall right now. But it’s not all bad…
Aside from some heavy-handedness in the commercial, General Mills really did good. Dad’s manifesto teeters on the fence between inspiring and corny, but…dads, right? I’m okay with that.
Read more great stuff about fatherhood, advertising and more at 8BitDad, where this piece originally appeared.
I can’t post pictures here but I made shields and bought foam swords for my son’s 12th birthday. So… I saw this ted talk on how kids should be taught to play with fire. It made sense. The theme of the party was medieval. Fire has been our tool since we were dragging our knuckles. So his birthday was based on FIRE. We had activities like how to make a proper torch. Shooting flaming arrows. And the grand parade, where I set up pyrotechnics Hollywood style, and everybody ran through carefully constructed ground fires and smoke. The photo tells it… Read more »
Not too sure how much men are truly doing the grocery shopping. Usually it appears to be moms with their kids, very young couples or 70+ couples shopping together, and a few bachelors holding a singular basket here and there. But I like this commercial very, very much. It’s very cool. I also love the Cheerios commercial with the bi-racial couple and the little girl puts Cheerios all over her Daddy’s heart. In the grand scheme of advertising, it’s probably only been in the last 20 years that men have had to deal with more negative advertising about men. It… Read more »
Oh my, That was just great!
Thanks for sharing, since it is canadian It would propably never reach me.