Tear-jerking Mother's Day ads that went (kind of) viral

Mother's Day ads are not an uncommon sight. In fact it has gotten increasingly creative with each year that passes by. Amongst the many different ads, the ones that seem to stick are the ones that tug on the heartstrings of audiences. So with Mother's Day just around the corner this year, the team at Marketing compiled a list of the most tear-jerking ads over the past few years which had audiences reach out for the tissue box. We hope you are emotionally ready for what is to come. Pandora (2015) Jewellery manufacturer Pandora came up with an ad in 2015 that explored "the unique connection" each child has with their mother. The two-minute long video depicted an experiment where children were blindfolded and asked to identify their mother from a row of women. The video showed some anxious faces of mothers as their child approached the row. The faces of worry were eventually replaced with elation when their child chooses them, showing audiences that the connection between a mother and a child is strong and real. The video has more than 19 million views, with users commenting how they could not stop themselves from tearing up. P&G (2016) Proctor & Gamble, who claims to be the "proud sponsor of moms", created its Mother's Day ad in 2016 in line with the Rio Olympics. However, instead of focusing on the athletes, the video shifts the spotlight to the driving force behind each athlete's grit and strength: their mothers. Each athlete had flashbacks to moments where their mothers taught them to be strong, which fuelled their determination to win at the Olympic games. The spot ends with "it takes someone strong to make someone strong. Thank you, mom". Nissan India (2017) While brands were quick to jump on the Mother's Day bandwagon, Nissan India took a different turn in 2017 and came up with an ad celebrating the spirit of motherhood. The ad showed a young girl being fetched by who the audience would assume is her mother, talking about grocery shopping, cooking, fashion, relationships, and her other friends' mothers. The video focuses only on the girl until the very end, when it was revealed that the person fetching her is her father as she said "happy mother's day, dad". Through its ad, Nissan wanted to celebrate not just mothers, but the spirit of motherhood in every parental figure. The unconventional ad has gotten over 1,100,119 views on Nissan's YouTube channel. Teleflora (2018) Celebrating the spirit of motherhood as well is floral wire service provider Teleflora, as it unveiled a series of ads in 2018 showing that love is what makes a mother. The ads featured stories of different families: one with a daughter diagnosed with down-syndrome, one where an older sister took on the role of a mother to her younger sister when their mother left them, and one of a single mother with her girlfriend. In these three different depictions of family, the running theme stands strong: that the unconditional love these people give is what makes them mothers. The videos have since garnered more seven million views each. Check them out here: Teleflora has been known for their emotional Mother's Day ads. Back in 2015, the floral delivery company also created a series of ads featuring real-life deliveries of flowers to mothers in the United States. In one particular video, a mother was presented with a video message from her son who lives far away from her. She tears up after watching the video with her son's heartfelt messages, before getting pleasantly surprised by her son appearing at her doorstep to deliver the flowers himself. The video saw over 12,117,587 views on YouTube with users commenting that it was "so amazingly beautiful" and how it was an "excellent commercial and phenomenal message". We don't know about you, but it certainly brought a tear to our eye. Maxis (2017) In 2017, Malaysia's telco Maxis brought us into the future with its Mother's Day ad, depicting a time where AI has replaced almost everything, but a mother's love. The ad shows a futuristic AI-operated life of a lady called Lyn, who appears to be lonely and accompanied by constant task reminders of an audio robot. But things take an emotional turn with a surprise visit of her mother. Garnered over 631,464 views, the video ends with the message “To the most intuitive intelligence of all. A mother’s instinct”, reminding us that a mother's intuition can never be replaced.