A new Coca-Cola ad is a jarring exception to the television industry's usually unrelenting negative coverage of family and parenthood.
The advertising firm Santo Buenos Aires produced the 60-second spot to promote Coke Life, a new 36-calorie product sweetened with Stevia extract that may soon hit the shelves in the United States.
The director films a couple's journey from pregnancy to the sacrifices of parenthood – the all-night crying sessions, stepping on LEGOs, interrupted intimacy, watching carefree couples jogging through the park – against the musical backdrop of “To Love Somebody,” a pre-disco Bee Gees tune with the refrain, “Baby, you don't know what it's like to love somebody the way I love you.”
At the end of the commercial, the couple learns they are expecting again. The long-suffering father screams in what appears to be incredulity – and then turns into infectious joy.
After a few years of experiencing the strains and benefits of parenthood, the couple embraces more ecstatically than they did when learning of their first child.
Having children and putting your own needs second, the ad seems to scream, makes you a happier person.
The decision is deliberate. The company altered the version of the “scream” the man emits when he learns of their second pregnancy. In the original, the Bee Gees scream, “Oh, no!” Compare the ad above with the video below 2:23:
Adweek calls the ad “brilliant,” “priceless, funny, and heartwarming.” Watch, and you'll agree.
This is the perfect season to have a Coke and a smile.
Cross-posted at TheRightsWriter.com.