Christmas is coming and with it the advertisements of the iconic brands of all our lives: El Almendro, Suchard, Loterías del Estado… they all remind us to dust off the Nativity Scene and the tree and to manage our agenda so as not to die trying to cover so many events.
Year after year, I see how these ads try, and succeed, to reach the hearts of many. They are the campaigns that get the most views and generate the most conversations in networks and beyond.
And why do they move us? Why do they touch our hearts? Well, they do it because they talk about people and to the person. Because they speak directly to the nature of the human being. That nature that people want to deny in an attempt to dehumanise us, but which is there, even though they try to convince us otherwise, and that is that God has made us well, don’t you think?
He has made us vulnerable. He has made us limited. He has made us small … he has made us perfectly imperfect, and that’s okay. We were brought into life to love and be loved, and that’s a fact. It is not a matter of faith. It is not a matter of believing. It is the very nature of the person, which for those of us who believe, of course, speaks and leads us to God, but for those who don’t, it is also a fact and speaks for itself. Those longings inscribed in our hearts for goodness, goodness, truth, and love are there.
Advertising creatives, whom I deeply admire after having worked for many years in the agency world, know that to make an impact on the audience there is nothing better than to reach their deepest “self”. That “I” who longs to do things well. That longs to be loved just as it is and wants to give itself. To that “I” that wants to leave its mark on this world and be remembered by its own. To that “I” who cannot live without a “you”, because it is a relational being and made for the encounter with the other. To that “I” that travels in search of the meaning of its life, It’s what for.
I haven’t seen the El Almendro advert yet, but I have seen the Suchard and Loterías ads. In both, the viewer is told about the importance of giving importance to what is important, which is none other than the family. And this, which seems like a tongue twister, seems to be denied nowadays.
“Have we done it right?” asked the little old men in the Mondelez nougat advert. A story in which they are remembering and watching their life go by Christmas after Christmas and what appear are PEOPLE: their loved ones, their family and those moments lived together with them. There are not many cars, many watches, many houses, a lot of money … and what defines whether your life has been successful or good? The world tells us about accumulating things, experiences, and money… but it is a fact that a broken sack can never be filled. You can try to fill your life with superfluous and/or material things and, in reality, be very poor.
In the advert, it talks about what is really vital: a meaningful life is a life lived with love and for love and given to others. That is the family. The place where we live, giving ourselves to one another and doing it in truth. Without masks and without the need to pretend anything. Just as we are.
And there, in that simplicity, (which is not easy), the advert has made many cries.
@sencillamentemarta
