Cheerios...for Gorillas

Upon first viewing the following Cheerios commercial, I immediately noted the humanization of the featured gorilla. It seems as though this ape - for whatever reason, was at some point in the past, displaced from its natural habitat and strewn into human culture. One assumes while watching this ad that this is not the first time this gorilla has been in a grocery store, however it still struggles with the trivial task of separating the two sides of those small, transparent produce bags.

As you watch the gorilla struggle through the rigmarole of civilized (human) grocery shopping culture, you can't help but feel for the poor ape. Aside from the bag issue, it has a difficult time finding anything in the store that it likes - aside from bananas, of course. What a tough life it must be for a gorilla living in a human society...



A contributing factor to my emotional reaction to this ad was the music. It painted the scene for a sympathetic and remorseful response as the ape seemed dejected and sad whilst pacing the isles of the store with nothing but bananas in its cart. The tone of the scene changed completely when the gorilla came across Banana & Nut Cheerios. The ape, upon realizing the banana content of this new product, became overwhelmed with enthusiasm as it began piling boxes upon boxes of the Banana & Nut Cheerios into the its cart. The part of this scene that really caught my attention was when the ape began to pull bunches of bananas out of the cart to make room for more boxes of the new Cheerios offering. To me, this was clearly Cheerios Brand Manager's effort to communicate that nothing - not even bananas, gets closer to the sweet banana flavor of Banana & Nut Cheerios. After all, the cereal does claim to contain real bananas.

The standard yellow colorization of Cheerios was unsurprisingly retained for this Banana & Nut brand extension (given that bananas are most often yellow). I thought that the color yellow, as it is shown on the box of Banana & Nut Cheerios, was effectively consistent with the tone of triumph and optimism that was realized by the gorilla as it had its epiphany, right there in the cereal isle. The music changed, optimism overtook the ape, and it made its way towards the checkout lanes.

As I take a step back after having watched this ad five times, I feel like it makes an emotional connection with everyone who has ever felt frustrated or lost in the grocery store, as they struggle to either find what they are looking for or labor to pick out products that their loved ones would enjoy. Cheerios places itself as a godsend for those frustrated souls as it offers itself as a yellow ray of light and symbol of hope.



Source: youtube.com