Taken down a while back, YouTube put this video back up. I love it.

[Aristus]

Tear time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRZri7jrX6g

A brief moment of human beauty for a sentimental guy like me...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Oh boy, my dear Aristus...

I have a box of Kleenex right here by my computer...

Stuff like that is why.

Thank you, sweetie...

:cry:

:hug:

[RadiationTherapy]

2. I absolutely cannot relate to this video in any way.

I don't want to be insensitive to those who are moved, but this sort of thing evokes the opposite of sentimentality in me.

[Aristus]

3. Sure, it's probably not for everybody.

What struck me was the timing of the commercial's airing. I first saw it in about the summer of 2008. The economy was tanking, people were losing their jobs in the millions, homes were being foreclosed. A lot of people were in pain.

It seemed to me that this ad, even though it was just selling Kleenex, tapped into that zeitgeist of pain, anxiety, worry and sorrow, and turned it into an opportunity for communication. A lot of people just want to be listened to; to have a sympathetic ear.

The music helped, too.

I enjoy sentimentality. But I don't enjoy what snopes.com calls "glurge"; sickeningly sweet, saccharine gloop. I don't think this video is glurge. It comes right up to the line without crossing over.

[RadiationTherapy]

5. It is 'glurge' to me, but I appreciate your incisive commentary.

You are very correct about the zeitgeist, etc. Well observed.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. I sorta like the concept, though not necessarily the content.

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It IS, after all... designed to sell Kleenex tissues. I think tears of pride
and joy would have been sufficient to sell the idea AND the product -- and
back off from the personal anguish and pain that a few of those people were
obviously experiencing. Weddings, graduations, even watching movies would
achieve the same purpose.
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I may be a little biased right NOW. I was sitting in one of the main outdoor
bus terminals in Tucson, waiting to go to work (I'm pretty sure it was this
Sunday as opposed to Saturday) about 9 AM when four young men approach
the terminal from a nearby diner parking lot -- all dressed in slacks and a
dress shirt (though not the usual black pants/white shirt garb that's an
instant giveaway). They split up and approached people individually where
they were waiting for their buses (the one who approached me held out and
offered some sort of pamphlet as he approached... and I forcefully but
civilly said, "No, thank you" and he moved on to more likely territory...
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...which was a middle-aged Hispanic woman about 15-20 feet away. They
spoke for a few minutes, he remaining standing... and though I couldn't
hear the vast majority of what was being said, she started weeping and
was eventually calling him "Padre" over and over (though he seemed FAR
too young to have been a priest or a full-fledged minister of any sort.
He gave no comfort, but started this monotone spiel seemingly directed
AT rather than to her -- though I couldn't make out the words, it sounded
exactly like what I've heard when religious proselytizers go on automatic
pilot -- no longer talking but reciting at a breakneck pace without any
kind of inflection or... seemingly... thought involved.
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He left her wiping at her tears a few minutes after that -- never having
offered any comfort at all that I could see.
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It was pretty disgusting.
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