(LifeSiteNews) — An ad for Apple AirPods that function as hearing aids is going viral for its pro-family message.
The ad, titled “Heartstrings,” shows a father, his wife, and daughter, as the teenager opens a guitar on Christmas.
The father can only hear a muffled version. Though his daughter is clearly excited about the gift, the father, named John, sits off to the distance with a look of sadness on his face.
As the daughter, Haley, opens it, the ad flashes back through memories of her playing other instruments as a kid, but the dad can only hear her faintly. He also thinks back to other memories of her growing up, going to school, and talking to him.
Brought back to the present, his wife hands him the hearing aid Air Pods and says “John, listen.”
He then not only hears her playing the song, “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, clearly in the present but recalls past memories with clearer audio. The same scenes are now much clearer in his memory as he can hear better.
The video ends with him crying tears of joy. It currently has nearly 10 million views on YouTube and received positive comments on X (formerly Twitter).
Apple CEO Tim Cook posted the video and it has received more than 46 million views.
I’m so proud of the many teams across Apple developing powerful technologies that are improving people’s lives. The Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 uses your personalized sound profile so you can hear the moments that matter. pic.twitter.com/DsGytAUQAR
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) November 28, 2024
“This is cool,” Elon Musk wrote in response.
“As someone who was born with sensorineural hearing loss due in both ears that only gets perpetually worse over time without anything I can do… AirPods Pro 2 has been a game-changer,” marketing executive Joshua Brown wrote on X.
Others praised the ad for showing the father in a positive, loving way.
“Instead of portraying the family patriarch as a bumbling fool, this ad puts a father with hearing loss at the center of a message that depicts a loving family in addition to promoting a product,” Amanda Harding wrote for The Daily Wire.
Of course, the ad is designed to sell a product and is not a purely altruistic video from Apple. That being said, it is positive sign in at least two ways.
First, it shows a father in a positive light, struggling to fully enjoy his daughter’s gifts. Second, it shows technology being used not for evil but for a positive purpose, to help someone with a disability fully participate in his child’s life.
Many pointed out on X that the ad was making them cry.
And while I will not admit to that, I can certainly say this video will go in my file of things to watch when I get sawdust in my eyes and need to flush it out.