Most of the ads these days make you wonder what in the world was the person who conceived of them thinking at that time. But once in a while you come across some ad that makes you want to applaud its creator. That's especially true if you appreciate the ad despite knowing that what is being shown isn't going to happen in real life.
I watched one such ad last weekend - it was about organ donation. The first shot is of a mother-son duo celebrating the mother's birthday. Happy Moments! Then the narrative moves forward by a whole year. It's the same date but now the mother is alone. The son has passed away. As the mother is looking on at his photo forlornly the doorbell rings. When she opens the door, there is no one outside. Just when she is about to close it she notices a box on the threshold. She brings the box inside and on opening finds a huge cake inside with the words 'Happy Birthday Mother' written on it. She is puzzled. The cake is delivered the next year and the year after that but on both occasions the sad mother is unable to discover who has sent it.
The year following that, the cake isn't delivered though it is pretty late in the day. And then we see the camera approaching the house. Someone places the cake outside and rings the bell. As the woman turns to go, she sees the mother in front of her. The woman is unable to hide her emotions and explains to the mother that if her son were alive he would have done the same for her. The mother places her hand where the woman's heart - which quite obviously was donated by her diseased son - is. The background song expresses the son's feelings that the body, the face is different but the heart has managed to come back to his mother.
Now we all know that the organ donor's and receiver's identities aren't supposed to be revealed to each other so what is shown in the ad cannot happen in real life. But in this country where people die waiting for a matching organ, it drives home the importance of organ donation beautifully. Knowing the Indians' soft spot for moms and anything to do with them, it perfectly draws at their heart-strings to make the point that your loved ones go on living when their organs give life to someone else.
I watched one such ad last weekend - it was about organ donation. The first shot is of a mother-son duo celebrating the mother's birthday. Happy Moments! Then the narrative moves forward by a whole year. It's the same date but now the mother is alone. The son has passed away. As the mother is looking on at his photo forlornly the doorbell rings. When she opens the door, there is no one outside. Just when she is about to close it she notices a box on the threshold. She brings the box inside and on opening finds a huge cake inside with the words 'Happy Birthday Mother' written on it. She is puzzled. The cake is delivered the next year and the year after that but on both occasions the sad mother is unable to discover who has sent it.
The year following that, the cake isn't delivered though it is pretty late in the day. And then we see the camera approaching the house. Someone places the cake outside and rings the bell. As the woman turns to go, she sees the mother in front of her. The woman is unable to hide her emotions and explains to the mother that if her son were alive he would have done the same for her. The mother places her hand where the woman's heart - which quite obviously was donated by her diseased son - is. The background song expresses the son's feelings that the body, the face is different but the heart has managed to come back to his mother.
Now we all know that the organ donor's and receiver's identities aren't supposed to be revealed to each other so what is shown in the ad cannot happen in real life. But in this country where people die waiting for a matching organ, it drives home the importance of organ donation beautifully. Knowing the Indians' soft spot for moms and anything to do with them, it perfectly draws at their heart-strings to make the point that your loved ones go on living when their organs give life to someone else.
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