On January 16th, we posted this photo of Sara & Fort Taylor. Sara got back in touch today, with an incredible video of her surprising Fort when he returned from deployment in Afghanistan.

Happy Veterans Day, all.

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We’re pleased to be able to share “A Family Portrait” of a 15% family – the Boesens, of Atlanta, Georgia.

We had a great conversation around their kitchen table this past weekend, and we’re excited we could capture a few minutes of their warmth, seriousness and good humor. This is our first step in creating more dialogue around the project as we enter its 2nd year.

Thanks for watching, thanks again for the support, and click that heart/link/email/share link to send it to your friends. 😉

– Michael & Alyson
http://wearethe15percent.com

Yesterday, we mentioned that We Are the 15% wouldn’t exist had it not been for last year’s Cheerios ad. A few days ago, Cheerios asked if we’d be willing to participate in their Family Breakfast Project. We’d planned a family trip that weekend, and we thought it might be fun to have a film crew tag along. We figured it would be a great way to speak widely about the 15%, and hopefully reach more families who’d want to participate.

We enjoyed collaborating on the video, and we feel that the real spirit of our family came across. You’ll notice we’re not glitzy; we don’t have separate make-up trailers – we’re just who we are: Michael, Alyson & Alexandra (with Grammy & Pappy). Plus, who doesn’t like breakfast sandwiches that look like owls?

The video is currently viewable with text from us on cheerios.com and on the Cheerios YouTube channel.

Thanks to the digital team at Cheerios, Zeus Jones, Rikshaw Films, and a quick shout-out to Deb Murphy, Michael’s sister, who happened to knit all of the hats we’re wearing.

It’s great to see the new Super Bowl commercial from Cheerios, featuring the same family from last year’s “Just Checking”. It’s a heartwarming continuation of the family’s story, and it’s set to air during the first-half of the game.

For us, and this project, it’s satisfying to see the story continue, because it renews a visible commitment to families like ours. Like yours! And without that first commercial, We Are the 15% would have never happened – how would we have spent the last 8 months? ; )

Stuart Elliott from the New York Times breaks it down in tonight’s story “An American Family Returns to the Table”:

“There were several potential commercials that executives considered for the Super Bowl, she added, and the one that brought back the interracial family “ended up being the spot sparking the most” interest, partly because of the performance of the 7-year-old actress who plays the daughter; she is named Grace Colbert and in the spot is called Grace or Gracie.”

You may appreciate this video of Al-Jazeera’s “The Stream”, a 30-minute talk show that airs around the world (except for North America) that we guested-on today. The theme of the episode was “Love Without Boundaries”, and was a lively discussion about interracial, cross-cultural, & interfaith relationships.

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Just saw this great new ad for Swiffer and wanted to be sure to share it with you all! ; )

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Today, “We Are the 15 Percent” was featured on the Katie Couric Show. In this clip, we speak briefly about the project, and Katie talks with Alex & Camille who contributed their family photo to the site, and Ken Wheaton from Ad Age.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and interest!

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Kids React to Controversial Cheerios Commercial, by TheFineBros, via Gawker & Victoria

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VIDEO: Melissa Harris-Perry – MSNBC – “Foot Soldiers of the Week”

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Betty Crocker’s “Home is What You Make It” – The DeLeon Family (from their “Families Project”)

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