'Blended' families are focus of Honey Maid ad

Madison Avenue may be making divorce its newest from of diversity.

Take a look at Honey Maid's new YouTube commercial that breaks on Monday, and its vision of the new American family is simple: blended.

That is, a family that has at least one member -- usually more -- who is, or who is living with, a stepchild, stepmother or stepfather.

The ad -- which also has a 30-second version that will debut on broadcast TV on Monday -- features a boy (not an actor) who says that his family is "hard to explain," then goes on to say, "I have two moms and I've got two dads."

But perhaps the overarching message in this spot, by the agency Droga5, is in how the young boy describes the key difference between his father and his stepfather: "My stepdad has black hair and my dad has brown."

Of course, if you're selling graham crackers -- and you're been doing it for 90 years, as Honey Maid has -- it's all about appealing to present and future customers, no matter what kind of family they come from. Earlier this year, Honey Maid aired a 30-second ad featuring everything from a same-sex couple bottle-feeding their son to an interracial couple and their three kids holding hands.

This is the New World of Millennial marketing. Millennials crave diversity. That's why some of the nation's biggest brands -- from Coca-Cola to General Mills to Honey Maid owner Mondelez -- are latching on to this imagery in their ads.

Honey Maid owner Mondelez, which also owns the Oreo, Trident and Cadbury brands, discovered in its research that one in three weddings in the U.S form a step family. Roughly 40% of adults are part of a so-called blended family. And of the 73 million children under 18, one in 10 is living with a step family.

"The composition of the American family has changed, and our product has changed, but we're still wholesome and so are America's families," says Gary Osifchin, senior marketing director at Honey Maid.

That's the message Honey Maid will spread in the new TV spot and YouTube video. And to stir social media buzz, it's asking consumers to tweet about their own "blended family" experiences.

This we-are-one strategy already has worked wonders for Honey Maid. After it aired the multicultural spot in March, sales jumped 7% in June and July, says Osifchin. Its online content has had 12 million views. And Google searches for the name Honey Maid rocketed 400%.

"We're holding up a mirror to America and showing them what America is," says Osifchin.

But Robert Epstein, a senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, thinks something else is the real driver: sales. "This is Advertising 101," he says. "Companies are simply paying attention to how America's demographics are changing."

But it must be done carefully, Epstein warns. "If you're aiming for one demographic, you risk leaving out everyone else."

Honey Maid isn't worried about that. Its got the top-selling graham cracker brand in the nation -- and a market share of about 66%.

"Divorce and remarriage is not discussed or portrayed by a lot of brands," says Osifchin. "Just because a family is broken up doesn't mean its broken."