Cheerios forced to shut down comments on new cereal advert featuring mixed-race family after racist trolls swamp it with abuse

Mixed-race girl asking her white mother is cereal is good for the heart

Then cuts to black father waking up on sofa with pile of Cheerios on chest

Cereal-maker forced to shut down the video's comment board after racist abuse

Commenters on cereal's Facebook page said ad made them 'want to vomit'

But many others praised advert for modern view of American family life

The ad is running on national television and has been posted online



Cheerios has become embroiled in a race row after it released a national television advert of an interracial family enjoying the oat-based breakfast cereal.

The cereal-maker was forced to shut down the video's comment board on its site after it was inundated with a torrent of racist abuse.



Some online commenters were so offended by the concept of a happy mixed-race family that they said the advert made them 'want to vomit'.



The touching short features a mixed-race girl asking her white mother if Cheerios are good for the heart before running out of the kitchen when she is told that they are. The shot then cuts to her black father awaking from a nap on the sofa to find a pile of Cheerios on his chest.

Idiotic comments: While it is now impossible to verify any of the comments submitted, AdWeek reported that the comment section contained numerous references to Nazis, 'troglodytes' and 'racial genocide'

Multicultural: The shot then cuts to her black father awaking from an afternoon nap on the sofa to find a pile of Cheerios on his chest

While it is now impossible to verify any of the comments submitted, AdWeek reported that the comment section contained numerous references to Nazis, 'troglodytes' and 'racial genocide'.

The Huffington Post reported that some commenters on the cereal's Facebook page also said they found the commercial 'disgusting' and that it made them 'want to vomit'.



One man expressed shock that a black father would stay with his family, writing: '

Reddit



Adorable: The touching short features a mixed-race girl asking her white mother if Cheerios are good for the heart before running out of the kitchen when she tells her it does

Happy with her job: Whitney Avalon plays the mom in the ad and she has been featured in 47 national commercials





All over the country: The 2010 Census showed that there are more mixed race couples in the western United States than in the east but there are couples throughout

NOT CHEERIOS' FIRST RACE ROW

This is not the first time that Cheerios has sparked a race controversy, as a previous ad featuring two black siblings and their father received numerous racist comments.

In the June 2012 spot, the older brother steals the majority of his high chair-bound sibling's cereal.

'Just goes to show you they start steeling [sic] at an early age!!! First Cheerio's next bikes then cars lol just like in real life,' one Youtube user wrote in the comments.

However, despite the string of ugly comments made on YouTube and Facebook, many were quick to defend the advert, made by Saatchi & Saatchi in New York.

Kevin Mueller added on Facebook: 'Every tv station in the US should play your bi-racial ad during every commercial break [...] Time to help everybody find their way to 2013 since some are still stuck about 60 years [in the past]. Keep up the good work Cheerios!'

The vice president of marketing for Cheerios released a statement defending the ad after the backlash.



'Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all,' Camille Gibson said in the statement.



Whitney Avalon, the actress who plays the mother in the 30-second spot, has been featured in 47 national commercials and she felt the need to come out in support of the ad.

