2020 Gerber Baby Is First Adopted Child Chosen for Campaign

Gerber announced on Friday that Magnolia Earl is the first adopted baby to become the face of the famous ad campaign.

Before Magnolia Earl turns one on Saturday, she will have already attained national fame. Gerber, who has been choosing a special little one every year since 1928, chose Magnolia as the 2020 face of the iconic baby food brand. Her win was announced on Today during the third hour of Friday’s morning broadcast.

“At Gerber, we have always recognized that every baby is a Gerber baby,” the company said in a statement to Today. “In the 10 years we have hosted Photo Search, we have been proud to feature babies of diverse backgrounds. This year is no exception by featuring Magnolia, our first adopted Gerber Spokesbaby.”

Magnolia’s parents, Courtney and Russell Earl, brought Magnolia and her adoptive siblings — 12-year-old Whitney and eight-year-old Charlotte — to the show to celebrate. “This is incredible,” Courtney Earl said. “It means that when people see our families, or if you see a family that doesn’t necessarily match, that you don’t have to question the belonging of anybody in that family.”

“We celebrate adoption in our family every single day,” Courtney continued, thanking Magnolia’s biological parents for making the decision to find her a better life. “The real hero in this story are Magnolia’s birth parents. They chose her life, and they sent her on this incredible journey.”

“If you could hear the joy in their voice of how proud they are of this little girl,” she said, visibly overcome with emotion. “Together with them and our community and our family, we all this love this baby girl so much.” Her husband agreed: “Mommy always says a family is built on love,” husband Russell Earl added. “We may all look different, but we’re one family.”

The Earl family will receive a $25,000 prize, as well as $1,000 from Gerber Childrenswear, $1,000 from Walmart, and phones with a year of unlimited free service from Verizon. Magnolia will spend the next year featured on Gerber’s social media accounts, and as the face of its marketing campaigns.