Advertising/Heartwarming

What does it take to make consumers want to buy a product? Sometimes, just a little d'aaaaaawwww.


 * This ad for P&G brands was played frequently throughout the 2010 winter Olympics. I went dawww every time, and I'm not even a parent!
 * This commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios that played on Christmas up until the early 2000s.
 * " Merry Christmas Happy Holidays, Mr. Scrooge."
 * The skating Christmas McDonald's ad from the '80s. Awww.
 * Speaking of Christmas ads, how about this classic spot for Miller High Life?
 * Or this one, for Coca Cola?
 * Or this one, for Folger's coffee? Damn you, you manipulative Madison Avenue bastards!
 * There was also this wonderful animated Christmas spot that aired on CBS in the late '60s.
 * This Tim Horton's ad, all about hockey and fathers.
 * This United Airlines ad truly shows what love is all about. This troper has long-distance relationship and watching this ad causes him to shed Manly Tears as he wants the same to happen to him and his girlfriend one day.
 * This commercial gets this troper every. Single. Time.
 * This troper loves to rail against the ad industry but damn if the Boom De Ya Da ads don't restore my faith in humanity every time I watch it. Which is a lot.
 * This commercial makes me weep and want to go out and buy a lot of Pedigree.
 * Master Card:
 * There was a Master Card commercial in the early nineties, where a little boy is upset that his mother has to go away for work on his birthday. The mom is promising him all sorts of lavish presents when she gets back, but it's not working, so finally she asks him what he wants. Cut to the mother, on an airplane for her business trip . . . with the kid next to her. Awww . . . ..
 * The one with the elephant.
 * Come Home...
 * This commercial for a Chilean candy brand. Specially the ending.
 * PETER! I can't stand coffee, but I love this Folger's commercial.
 * Several Budweiser commercials.
 * And some others.
 * This Anheuser-Busch ad, which is also Truth in Television. This troper saw the same thing happen at the Atlanta airport. The real deal was even more moving, because it was happening approximately every five minutes as more and more troops arrived.
 * This commercial makes This Troper go "awww..." every time she watches it. Yes, Godzilla is a good daddy.
 * From an A&W commercial: a guy and his wife visit his parents, and it's obvious that he and his father do not see eye-to-eye. Even when he offers to take the family to A&W for dinner, Dad simply says, "I'll drive," and orders for the group, "Mama Burger, Papa Burger, and two Teens." Cut to the family sitting down, where the son is handing out the burgers. He gives to his father not a Papa Burger, but a "Grampa Burger?" Son and his wife smile. Mom and wife stand up and hug each other. Dad and son stand up, Dad puts a hand on his son's shoulder, smiles (for the first time in the spot), and says, "Where are my onion rings?"
 * This AT&T Commercial, touching the wide eyed child in all of us. "Happy fifth birthday again..." and the World of Pure Imagination brings back memories of how beautiful the world can look to the imaginative.
 * The Iams "best part of adopting a pet..." commercials. For this troper, the one where the woman brings the scruffydog to his new home, and is trying to get him to play with a tennis ball. He lays down on the floor and stares at it, she gives up, he goes and brings her the tennis ball. Cue "...is when the pet adopts you" voiceover.
 * Found here.
 * Iams does another one with a man and a cat.
 * This troper remembers an old commercial from a Finnish telephone operator: A little girl and her family are packing up for a vacation. The girl wants to take her giant teddy bear with her. It won't fit into her small suitcase, and her parents won't let her take the bear with her. So she packs with her a toy cell phone and waves bye to the bear as she leaves it sitting on a chair with another toy phone in its lap.
 * These three advertisements.
 * There is a Bell Canada ad that they usually air in November, which isn't online. It features a young man standing on a grey coastline. He's on his cellphone, and talking to his Grandfather. He mentions he's in France, where by his grandfather asks how Paris is, and if the girls are as lovely as he remembers, and the grandson replies with "No, grandpa, I'm not in Paris. I'm in Dieppe. I just wanted to say thank you."
 * For those of you wondering, look up the battle of Dieppe.
 * Found it.
 * There's this one dog food commercial that shows a Westie looking over a sleeping woman in the early hours of the morning, and the words "I promise" and then "to be there when you wake up" appear. Anyone who knows the joys of waking up to a doggie can attest to this being pure CMOH.
 * This troper saw that commercial months after her beloved Westie died of old age and broke down.
 * You can't say that for sure. Your Westie might be with you there every morning, you just can't see them. But you'll know they're there.
 * ... Thank you.
 * These ads. They were played in a five year time-period so the last one resulted in "Squee" and "Awww" throughout the land.
 * They were so popular that they spawned a novel called Love Over Gold.
 * Hey, that's GILES!
 * In the United States these commercials were retooled to where Anthony Stewart Head played an American man (and the British woman stayed British) and were for Taster's Choice coffee. They were also wildly popular in the U.S.
 * This troper always finds it heartwarming that, even when they are trying to maximize sales, beer makers will often make commercials specifically to warn parents not to let their kids drink.
 * I can't recall for the life of me what the product was, but a young boy is waiting at Christmastime for his considerably older brother to come home for Christmas, so they can sing together in the choir. Alone and somewhat put off by his absence, the boy starts singing 'O Holy Night' and exactly when he gets to 'A Thrill Of Hope', his brother shows up and joins in. Though I'm the older brother, it made me think about my brother in the first Gulf War at that time.
 * That's a Hallmark commercial, Tom's Coming for Christmas. Enjoy.
 * A clown entertains a crowd. The clown sees a young girl with a cap on her head. The clown tries to take off the cap. The mother shakes her head and takes off the cap for him. The young girl is bald and dying from cancer. The clown resumes entertaining the crowd, asking them to put money into the cap. The clown then places the cap on the girl. When he takes it off again, her hair is back, her sickness is gone. The mother cups her hands over her mouth and cries. The first time this troper watched this, it was with a crowd of hard-nosed marketing professionals who had over a century's worth of experience combined. Yet not a sound could be heard in the room, except sobs.
 * This T-Mobile Advertisement. Maybe this Troper's soft spot for crowd singing and 'Hey Jude' is a bit too big but this made her tear up a tiny bit.
 * This, this, and this commercial from Duracell. (This is part of the same series, but too... cliche? for This Troper's tastes.)
 * There's this really cute one where the infamous drumming bunny and a toy duck are left behind after a picnic, and set off after their owner. This troper can't decide which moment is sweeter - the bunny dragging the duck when the duck's battery runs out, or the 2 being reunited with their owner.
 * This Nike commercial which played after the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. Just do it, indeed.
 * This State Farm ad.
 * This and this. The Liberty Mutual "Good Deeds" commercial are popular sources of this trope.
 * This ad from the Foundation for a Better Life. Encouragement - pass it on!
 * Heck, pretty much ALL of the FBL spots are CMOHs, particularly " Homecoming/True Beauty", "Piñata" and " The Race". just go watch them all, and try not to cry :)
 * The world is just awesome.
 * Sheraton Hotels This Troper NEVER gets tired of this commercial or song
 * This troper loves a commercial she sees often on tv, I think for the lotto. An old man and his friends go fishing at a pond everyday, but they never catch anything. One night, the old man wins the lottery and spends his money on a truck full of fish and dumps them in the lake. When he and his friends next go fishing, they catch some. Awww!
 * The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation's 'Conquer Cancer' commercial. That is all.
 * This Japanese PSA should be shown in every country.
 * This Coke ad from 1980 featuring Mean Joe Greene...I think we all know how this one goes.
 * An AT&T commercial about a little girl whose dog is missing and she's putting up lost dog signs. A guy notices and starts a chain with his phone to find the dog while the girl is walking home. When she gets home and sees her dog waiting for her . . . /runs off weeping
 * And the fact that the group managed to get Tyler Hansborough who has been something like the face of Collegiate basketball for the past 3 years to help out and deliver the dog as well.
 * I found it!
 * I JUST TEARED UP AT AN ABC PROMO, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!
 * Not a thing.
 * And then there's "Come on Along", the song from the previous season. It's probably the sugariest thing ABC's ever made (and this is the network that brought us Full House), but it never fails to make me happy.
 * You probably have to be a Florida alum for this effect to kick in, but the university's series of "Go Gators!" commercials bring a tear to my eye every time. Especially those last two.
 * This troper can't watch one Christmas themed Coke commercial without feeling the warmth of the season. Especially the one where a baby polar bear is offered a Coke by a baby penguin. Too cute.
 * Coca-Cola is no longer the only company that can combine "polar bear" and "heartwarming". See Nissan's commercial for their new hybrid featuring a lone bear driven from his home by global warming and genuinely grateful to learn that not all Humans Are Bastards.
 * For this commercial, a father goes to meet his daughter, whom is rather surprised to see him, as it implies they haven't seen each other for a while. He tells her he's going to bring her to her favourite place. In confusion, she says that she doesn't have a favourite place. Turns out he brings her to Swiss Chalet, a place where she used to love as a child. The father dips his nose in some red sauce as a little imitation of Rudolph that he used to do just for his daughter. And he says in an absolutely heartwarming voice that he missed his daughter and she replies that she missed him too. As a bonus, she called him Rudolph too, a little nickname between the two of them.
 * This troper recalls seeing a Hallmark commercial. A mother is sending her little daughter off to her first day of school. She hands the girl her lunch and waves as the bus drives off. The girl opens up her lunch and sees a card. She opens it, and as "Say" by John Mayer plays in the background, smiles as she sees the words "love you" written on the inside. Hallmark commercials always make this troper "Awwwww".
 * This commercial always gets this troper a warm, fuzzy feeling when she sees it. The woman signs that she's tired that things are always the same and instead of letting her rant on, her boyfriend/husband hands her the coffee, signs that he loves her and wipes away a tear. The tagline states "It's not what you say, it's what you do." Awww!
 * There was this commercial where a little old lady, who is blind, is trying to cross the street, but couldn't. So she asked the man beside her to help her, which he did. As they were walking across the street, we see that the man helping her was also blind.
 * A Kay Jewelers commercial made this troper go "awww". A man and his deaf wife are having Christmas together. The husband starts clumsily signing (while talking) that he learned a new sign for "Merry Christmas", which he uses as he hands his wife a box. She opens it and smiles when she sees the necklace inside the box.
 * The Disney "Magic Happens" commercials. A couple talking about their relationship, a nervous man giving his girlfriend an unexpected gift, a dad in charge of babysitting his kids for the night or maybe going on a business trip, a young boy sleeping with drawings on the floor, a grandfather's birthday party or a game of Scrabble. They all tug this Troper's heartstrings.
 * This trailer for Disney Nature's Oceans makes you realize you live on the best place in the universe, and you've barely seen any of it.
 * This Discovery Channel commercial. Will make you tear up for similar reasons
 * This Geico commercial. Car insurance has never been more precious.
 * This truly tearjerking ad for seatbelt safety might just get the point across more effectively than anything gory or violent ever could have. 11 million YouTube hits can't be wrong.
 * This Google commercial, titled "Parisian Love," where a man's relationship with a woman he met in France, from their first meeting to their first child, is tracked through his Google searches. "How to assemble a crib."
 * Making it better was that it was a Super Bowl Special commercial, and stood out so much more compared to the general dumbening.
 * There's a second one where a woman from Vietnam starts a new life in the United States with her son, tracking her searches from "bringing a child to the US" to "what is valedictorian". Excuse me, I just have something in my eye...
 * And then there's this one about a father and his little girl.
 * Also this one about a brother and sister.
 * This "The Simpsons" based Coke commercial. Sure Mr. Burns is an evil Jerkass, but that doesn't mean he cant have a break every once and a while!
 * Another Tim Hortons commerical that is based on a true story, about an immigrant man being reunited with his family. Here
 * "Hey, boy. We got you something." "It's your new sister."
 * You gotta love this goldfish.
 * This Pantene commercial. "You can shine" indeed.
 * What does talking mean to you?
 * That commercial was considered such a powerful piece of advertising by David Gilmour that he based a Pink Floyd song around it.
 * This John Lewis advert.
 * A certain Vodafone advert never fails to make this troper smile.
 * The Go World Visa commercials that air every Olympics. The narration by Morgan Freeman adds a side of CMOA.
 * This commercial for Walt Disney World's 75th anniversary special advertised on this troper's VHS of Toy Story.
 * This troper can't believe nobody has mentioned this Prudential of Korea insurance commercial.
 * This Venezuelan Christmas ad for Plumrose ham. It was so popular (and reused), it got a sequel-followup 20 years later, with the girl from the first ad now gown up.
 * A recent advert for the Renault Twingo shows a group of trendy young twenty-somethings in a car pulling up beside a night-club, and examining with dismay the long queues. Then the driver looks at a group of transvestites near the front, and catches one's eye. There's a flash of recognition. "Dad?" The father looks panic-stricken, terrified. His secret has been discovered, in such an awkward way and and in such a public place. This can only end badly. "Can you get us in?" The father's expression on seeing his son's ready acceptance and complete lack of judgement would melt butter.
 * "Rosi", a Volvo-commercial that kicks the idea of a bumbling, incompetent, child-unfriendly Sit-Com dad in the nuts, pulls its coat over its head, and pushes it down a flight of stairs.
 * This World Cup ad that aired in Australia immediately prior to the WC opening ceremonies. It aired, sometimes in pieces, throughout the tournament. This ad will make you happy to be part of the world. This troper sent it to LeVar Burton, who retweeted it to his followers.
 * This Canadian PSA commercial about two childhood friends and one in rehab due to drugs and his old friend visiting him. The song "He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother)" in the background tilts it into Tear Jerker territory.
 * This Ikea advert. Everything really is cuter with kitties!
 * This Toys for Tots commercial is sure to warm at least a few hearts.
 * This is quite possibly my favorite commercial of the past five years. Even if you don't happen to be quite as big an NFL fan as this troper, you can't deny that the ending is one big D'AWWWW payoff. I get goosebumps!
 * Oh, and it's directed by David Fincher...which could really either be a credit to or a mark against it.
 * This Thai commercial about a pregnant woman and her comatose husband. Also doubles as a major Tear Jerker.
 * This Wal Mart commercial gets me every time.
 * This one, if you live away from home.
 * This commercial might be one of my favorite ads of all time. Sure, it's inadvertent message is "Supporting this billion dollar company, as opposed to the other billion dollar company, makes you a unique individual", but I tear up every time I watch that beautiful girl take out her head phones and stand up. What eyes!
 * This Super Bowl commercial. Cheesy to be sure, but that doesn't stop it from being extremely heartwarming.
 * This is just adorable. It's a Mormon Ad about.. well, I don't want to spoil the ending.
 * I can't watch the Liberty Mutual ads without remembering this. There used to be a PSA where a couple of gruff businessmen are bulling their way through an airport. One of them runs into a little boy and he spills the puzzle he's been working on all over the floor. Businessman immediately stops, asks if he's OK, and helps him pick it up. Other businessman: My God. Hurry up. We'll miss the plane. Little boy, looking at helpful businessman: Are you God?
 * This ad about a little girl whose brother has lost his hair in Chemo
 * To embrace a stranger as our own. It's in our nature.
 * This Subaru commercial. To put it in further perspective, it's also this (teenage female) troper's dad's most favorite commercial ever.
 * This commercial for Jif Peanut Butter—even if you're generally immune to the power of "cute kids" in advertising, this one will warm your heart.
 * Google throws its support behind the It Gets Better Project. There is of course an advertisement for Google Chrome in there, but the commercial is a minute and a half long, and Google Chrome is only mentioned for two seconds of that time. If you don't tear up at least once, you're made of stone.
 * I'll hold your hand.
 * This series of commercials from Telcel, featuring a cover of "You were always on my mind" by Andrés Calamaro.
 * Probably going to sound incredibly stupid, but it seems so sweet that Anthony Sullivan became the spokesman for OxiClean after Billy Mays' death... and I never even watched Pitchmen...
 * Teach. A commercial to encourage more people to become teachers.
 * This ad for the new Ocarina of Time game, featuring Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda. His remark at the end is amazingly sweet.
 * Nikon recently produced a series of advertisements for its cameras, around the idea of, "I am ... " while capturing moments with your camera. Overall, the ads were heart-warming and wonderful. But this ad, featuring Robbie Williams, is phenomenal. At about the 00:13 point, there's footage of Robbie asking an entire stadium full of people to hold up their cameras with the 'flash' switched on and take a photo, everyone, all at the same time. His "Oh my God!" as he staggers back suits the moment perfectly. It's brilliant.
 * This Coca-Cola ad. Two border guards putting aside their differences.
 * Another one from McDonald's, this time from India. Who would've thought the McAloo Tikki (a veggie burger made out of potatoes) would be enough to start Puppy Love between two Indian children?
 * Long Live Michael!: Various video game characters say thanks to their players.
 * This ad for H&R Block. "I think you could use some help." has never sounded this sweet.
 * This commercial from the Make a Wish Foundation. It takes the collaboration of the town and a good-hearted teacher to make one boy's wish to be a superhero come true. This Troper personally can't help crying over the effort these people had.
 * A commercial for a chain of retirement homes with an old man talking about his life from boyhood on a farm with chickens, through military service and marriage, to how he's now living in "a rather nice care home" - and they even let him keep chickens. At that point the shot changes so his hands are full of baby chicks and it's adorable.
 * This Japanese animated advertisement for Disney Resort in Tokyo, depicting the life of a young girl as all the happiest moments of her life take place in the theme park. Might be a full blown Tear Jerker for some, it's so heartwarming.
 * This T-Mobile advert makes me cry every time, particularly as when I last flew into Heathrow Terminal 5 it had been after my first holiday without my parents to the States and I was so happy to see my dad waiting for me at the gate after a seven-hour flight that I promptly burst into tears. Goodness only knows what I'd have been like if this had been there to greet me!
 * This troper sees this PSA when he's watching Mona the Vampire at 6:30am on This TV Twin Cities. It's about counting others in and it features a handicapped boy who is unable to participate in a soapbox car race because it would be impossible for him to get inside the soapbox. Another boy decides to stop being in the race to have the handicapped one race. They decorate his wheelchair with fancy stuff and he wins the race. The troper's reaction? He wiped away a tear oozing out his eye.