That plump sweet face, those sparkling eyes, and that winning smile. We know you’re going to fall head over heels in love with the newest Gerber baby! Please meet the adorable Miss Magnolia Earl, hailing from Ross, California. This sweet little lady was chosen from amongst 327,000 other contestants. All of these baby’s families submitted photos and videos, hoping to be the newest Gerber baby. (1) Each year Gerber sends the call out for the next face of the Gerber brand, and parents everywhere answer that call with some of the cutest footage you can imagine! What was it like to have to choose just one little cutie from, what is no doubt, a total sea of cuteness? It was likely quite difficult, and I’m just glad it wasn’t me. There’s no chance I’d be able to pick only one!
What does this little sweet pea get for being crowned the 2020 Gerber baby? Cold hard cash, for starters. She’ll take home a $25,000 reward, plus $1,000 worth of Gerber brand name children’s wear, another $1,000 gift from Walmart, and Verizon outfitted the family with phones, plus a free year of unlimited service. Plus, all the notoriety that goes along with being the Gerber spokes-baby for a whole year. (1) Not a bad haul for a wee one!
How Did The Gerber Baby Contest Get Started?
Back in 2010, Gerber launched the official contest aimed at crowning a new spokes-baby each year. You might recall the famous original: A wide-eyed, chubby-cheeked babyface on every jar of Gerber baby food. For all you trivia buffs out there, that baby was named Ann Turner Cook. Ann was just an infant of only a few months old when in 1928 a charcoal sketch of her was selected to represent the Gerber brand. (2)
So things have gotten a little more high-tech in recent years, but the idea is still the same as it was back in 1928. People love cute babies, and they make great little spokespeople. Send Gerber your adorable baby photos, and they just may end up a star.
With so many sweet little faces to choose from, deciding on who to choose each year as the newest Gerber baby is always tough. This year they received 327,000 submissions, which is a staggering number. These babies come from all walks of life. They find their way to this contest each year in thousands of different ways. For Magnolia, who is adopted, it’s hard to say if she would have had a chance like this before. So her victory is a great reminder that things happen in their own special way. That every action has a reaction… it’s all one big fabric of life, and we are all connected by it.
“At a time when we are yearning for connection and unity, Magnolia and her family remind us of the many things that bring us together: our desire to love and be loved, our need to find belonging, and our recognition that family goes way beyond biology,” said Bill Partyka, president, and CEO of Gerber.
