Super Bowl season gets a lot of attention for being the ad industry’s, well, Super Bowl — it’s the time when advertisers go all out, wringing every drop they can from their budget and their creatives’ sanity to come up with something spectacular and memorable, either to run during the game itself or to compete with those that do. For me, though, I think the holiday season is an underappreciated complement, with advertisers setting aside the spectacular to grab your emotions by the balls in search of those precious, precious holiday shopping dollars.
The Sappy Bowl, if you will. And, okay, I love it.
Holiday 2021 follows the spirit of Holiday 2020, when the general consensus appeared to be that we’ve had plenty of emotion this year and are going to tend toward the upbeat for Q4. But also like Holiday 2020, the ads that decided to go for it this year decided to go for it, and by the time I surveyed all the nominees, my eyeliner was a complete write-off.
Which ones were just weepy, and which ones were truly Weepy? Those are the ones we’re here to celebrate today. And thus the 2021 Weepy Awards go to:
Honorable Mention: Etsy, “Give more than a gift — Our Santa” (72andSunny)
This ad didn’t make it into the medals because it didn’t technically generate actual weeping. But it was still heartwarming enough to warrant an honorable mention. Because representation matters, and grandpas deserve a merry Christmas, too, and watching this grandpa look at the jolliness around him and not see anyone who looked like him made me sad. And then watching him see that someone noticed and found that special gift just for him made me happy. If I were watching this on the way home from midnight mass, all full of Christmas spirit and sleep deprivation, I might well properly tear up. Welcome back to the Weepies, Etsy/72andSunny.
Bronze: McDonalds UK, “Imaginary Iggy” (Leo Burnett London)
Christmas is for kids, and for people who were, once upon a time, kids. And that’s what this ad is about: Being a kid, growing up, leaving childhood things behind, and realizing that maybe you shouldn’t have done that and rescuing your childhood imaginary friend from the closet where you stuffed him.
I, of course, have a recorded track record of getting weepily sentimental over things like imaginary friends, childhood stuffed animals, and anthropomorphic baby carrots, so a sweet, fluffy, turquoise friend who was so fun and encouraging throughout the girl’s childhood and then was so unceremoniously STUFFED IN A CLOSET BECAUSE HE WASN’T COOL ENOUGH FOR YOU COOL NEW FRIENDS, EMILY, was basically guaranteed to touch, and then break, my heart. But she did come back for Iggy, and they both had a merry Christmas in the end.
Silver: Amazon, “Kindness, the greatest gift” (Lucky Generals)
This ad made me ugly-cry so hard my mom gave me a hug, and the only reason it didn’t win gold is that I’m pretty sure it’s for mostly personal reasons that I got so entirely Weepy. But if you’ve been there, you know. The outstanding sound design does a huge amount of heavy lifting here — the noise, the people, the ear-ringing everythingness of it that conveys anxiety so effectively and draws the audience into that mental state. (Plus, Adele. If your goal is to make people cry… Adele.)
But the girl was just so stressed, and you’re just so there, and then someone notices she’s stressed, and they notice that something makes her feel better, and then they give her the thing that can help make her feel better, and then she has something that helps make her feel better and she sees that someone has noticed her being stressed and felt compelled to help and dammit, there I go again.
Anyway, it was a sweet ad that also highlighted the mental health struggles young people (and not-so-young people) have been facing, and it’s Christmas. Great job, Lucky Generals.
Gold: Chevrolet, “Holiday Ride” (Commonwealth//McCann)
Damn you, Chevrolet.
Just damn you directly to hell.
When you first saw Chevy’s Christmas ad, I’m sure your thoughts went straight to me, all, “Man, this one’s winning a Weepy for sure.” And it is. I can’t deny that this is the straight-up weepiest ad of Christmas 2021. But honestly? I’m not sure how I feel about it. There was something almost formulaic about this ad: the sad guitar music, the sad widower crying over a picture of his late wife, the sad daughter, “It’s what Mom would have wanted.” There’s even a dog (because there has to be a dog). I almost feel manipulated by it.
I’m serious. It’s a situation that’s real and relatable, and people have been going through so much, and that kind of grief is certainly something more and more people are able to relate to (sadly). The director, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper, felt a personal connection to the story and wanted to tell it to its utmost. And he did. And if it hadn’t been a car ad, I’m confident my reaction would have been unqualified praise for a touching, emotionally resonant short film about love and grief and family. … Except it was a car ad.
Regardless, I’ll be damned if it didn’t work, because I was right there with the sad widower, and the daughter, and the dog, and I started crying when he was sitting in the dusty old Impala being all sad and I didn’t even bother wiping my eyes until after the freshly restored car had driven off into the distance. Damn you, Chevrolet, and damn you, Commonwealth//McCann. Just because I don’t want to give you this award doesn’t mean you didn’t earn it. Good job.
Now come on, Erckle. You deserve better than this.
Weepy Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.
And now that I’ve cried off all my Maybelline, I put it to you: Have I missed any? What ads have made you get Weepy this holiday season? Pull up a chair, grab a tissue, and share your favorites in comments.
And I wish you, through my tears, a merry Christmas, jolly assorted other holidays, and a happy new year.