- A highly emotional Christmas commercial released in late November has gone viral on YouTube and social media, getting millions of hits in just a few weeks.
- The ad was made for a Dutch pharmaceutical company and it doesn’t mention the coronavirus pandemic specifically.
- The story does fit well with the current health crisis, reminding people of what’s really important this particular Christmas.
The upcoming Christmas holiday will be one to remember, regardless of how or even if you celebrate the holiday. Winter 2020 as a whole will be particularly memorable, and that’s because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The virus has infected a record number of people in the past few months, claiming many thousands of lives in the process. Most people are still at risk, and that’s why health experts are urging people to celebrate Christmas differently this year. Rather than traveling home and gathering family members and friends, people have been asked to limit celebrations to members of the same household and employ additional safety measures when meeting others in indoor settings.
This Christmas should be remembered for the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines that will pave the way for returning to normalcy. The more people who get inoculated in the coming months, the easier it will be to get life back to normal sometime next year. Christmas 2021 should look much better than this year’s celebration.
Given everything that’s going on with the world, it’s no wonder that it’s a health-related Christmas ad that’s making the rounds right now. It’s an emotional “film” that’s meant to remind you about the most important thing this holiday season. And you’ll have to keep watching until the very end to understand why it went viral.
The clip is nearly three minutes long and relies on action and music to capture what’s happening with the world right now. It’s not specifically about the coronavirus health crisis, and the people in the ad aren’t wearing masks. After all, it is an ad that will outlive the pandemic and work in any other setting. But the message is still there. Social distancing has been hard on everyone, especially on people who are most likely to suffer COVID-19 complications like the sick and elderly. And social distancing is preventing families from getting together when they need companionship the most, including on Christmas.
The older man in this commercial from Dutch pharmaceutical company DocMorris decides he has to get in shape for Christmas using things he has around the house. A series of photos convince him to start exercising, especially a framed photo that we don’t get to see.
To the dismay and worry of his neighbors and daughter, the man keeps training using a heavy kettlebell he used to lift with ease when he was much younger. He also walks around the neighborhood as Christmas gets closer.
It’s all in preparation for the Christmas celebration that he’s about to have with his extended family. This is where I’ll stop because I definitely don’t want to spoil the ending.
You might shed a tear or two when you watch it the first time, even if you’ve been warned that it’s highly emotional. It gets even worse if you watch it again, even though you already know what happens.
The DocMorris ad has gotten nearly 12.5 million hits on YouTube since November 30th, and that’s just the official version of the ad. It’s been reposted on other channels and shared extensively on social media. You won’t catch it on TV, but many people in your social circles will be sharing it online. Watch the fantastic ad below in its entirety.
