Huggies puts fathers on diaper boxes for the first time ever

For the first time ever, Huggies is featuring fathers on the front of its boxes of diapers.

Kristine Rhode, the North America brand director for the diaper company, told USA Today in an interview released on Tuesday that the company is rolling out three different designs portraying men with babies under its new “Special Delivery” diaper line.

“We really believe in celebrating all parents and the great job that parents are doing,” Rhode told the publication.

{mosads}“When you think about the important role that dads have in the family today and how that continues to grow, we wanted to make sure they were equally celebrated,” she continued.

The boxes, which rolled out on store shelves earlier this month, have already been met with viral praise online, particularly over one of its new designs depicting a black father and daughter.

In a post that has racked up more than 80,000 shares over the past week, Joe Flowers Jr., a black father from Chicago, celebrated the new design as “a first in history look how far we’ve come.”

“I was just happy to see that fathers were represented because we are never promoted on anything. That was my initial reaction,” Flowers told USA Today. “Just so happens that the man was African American … I know we actually take care of our children just as much as the mom sometimes, so I was just proud to see a representation of that in the stores.”

“I would absolutely love for more fathers to be shown on products because we use them as well,” he continued. “I know for me it was a good feeling to see someone like me represented on a package.” 

Tori Bridges, whose daughter was featured in the design with model Orlondo Thompson, told the newspaper that the company’s choice to depict a black father and daughter in its design “means a lot especially the representation in society with African American fathers.”

“They’re not necessarily out there as much, and this is really changing the narrative,” she added. “It was just very beautiful, and I was just grateful that Soraya was a part of history.”