{"id":3886,"date":"2025-12-19T13:16:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/?p=3886"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:16:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:16:48","slug":"weepies-2025-the-10th-annual-weepy-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/weepies-2025-the-10th-annual-weepy-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Weepies 2025: The 10th Annual Weepy Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ANY OTHER WAY, Opa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s Weepy season again, but the 2025 Weepy Awards aren\u2019t just any<\/em> Weepies. They\u2019re the tenth anniversary of the Weepies \u2014 a decade of honoring the ads that make you sniffle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015 \u2014 our inaugural Weepies<\/a> \u2014 we learned (well, y\u2019all learned, \u2018cause I\u2019d already known) that unhappy stuffed animals make me cry, and \u201cOpa faked his own death\u201d became a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, the Heathrow Bears<\/a> made their appearance, but the RSPCA<\/a> took home the gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 awards<\/a> introduced us to Kevin the Carrot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 Weepies<\/a> established the Slam Dunk rule that thereinafter disqualified Chevy from the running (for as long as that lasted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now we\u2019re here, ten years later, still crying over holiday ads and still celebrating the best of them. I will always stand up and clap for a clever ad, a funny ad, a snarky one, a strategically wise one, but something about the general sentimentality of the season calls out for a tearjerker. It\u2019s like how being out in the cold makes you that much more appreciative of a warm fire and a hot cup of cocoa \u2014 the sentimental sniffles make the holiday joy that much joyful. And while some brands are good at drawing out the sniffles, some demonstrate a mastery of it worthy of public recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us to our 2025 winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorable mentions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Weepiness is, of course, in the teary eye of the beholder, so these two entries might fall into the \u201cmaybe it\u2019s just me?\u201d category, but a weep is a weep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chewy, \u201cJunior, the Forever Friend\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one is just weepy because we\u2019ve had to say goodbye to our own Skip<\/a> and Dave<\/a> in the past year, and with Christmas approaching, I was Simply Not Prepared. Hug your pets close, y\u2019all. We get more time with them than we deserve, but it\u2019s still never enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etsy, \u201cGifts That Say I Get You – Little Drummer Boy\u201d (Orchard)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might be just me, or it might be me and a ton of other neurodivergent people like me who had a hard time connecting and being understood as a kid. But watching Alex take such shit from so many people, except for one person who actually sees<\/em> him\u2026 Sometimes, \u201cI get you\u201d is<\/em> the gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OKAY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having thusly kicked off the awards in a potentially buzzkill-y kind of way, let\u2019s move on to the actual sentimentally weepy Weepy winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronze:<\/strong> John Lewis, \u201cWhere Love Lives\u201d (Saatchi & Saatchi)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This one definitely hits with the sentimentality, and \u201ckid who doesn\u2019t know how to connect with their parent does so through the power of a thoughtful gift\u201d is one of my favorite genres of weepy holiday ads. But it would probably have landed higher on the podium if there hadn\u2019t been an air of\u2026 creepiness? to it. Something about the appearance and disappearance of the son amid strobing lights, and crossing the weathered expanse of the empty club floor, very much gives \u201cfather has been disconnected from real life whilst supernaturally trapped in memories of his more exciting youth, but son has found a way to break through the spell and bring him back to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like where it ended up, JL, but I wish you hadn\u2019t gotten there via \u201cthank you, son, for breaking the sorcerer\u2019s curse, because I might have been lost forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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