江崎グリコ | Smile.Glico みんなとハグハグ篇 | 2016
The gentle line: "Glad I was born as a sweet." / Glico "Smile.Glico Hug Hug with Everyone"
A character called Hug Hug goes around hugging people all over the world. Watching the smiles spread from person to person, you can feel something inside you loosen up.
The problem
Since 2011, Glico has run corporate advertising under the idea of "wanting to deliver smiles to everyone." In 2014, the company refreshed that thinking, redefining the purpose of its sweets and food as "putting all kinds of people in a good mood," which is how the smile.Glico series began, with Satoshi Tsumabuki playing the embodiment of a sweet.
The insight
"When you change, the world changes" - that might not be so far off. It sounds like something out of a Yu Takahashi song, almost too neat to be true, but it really is.
The idea
Hug Hug is a 2-meter-tall character who travels the world with the ambitious goal of putting a smile on all 7 billion people on Earth. All it does is silently hug the people it meets - and as the smell of caramel drifts from the heart on its chest, their startled faces slowly melt into smiles.
What happened
Hug Hug wasn't just a character on screen. On January 30, 2016, a life-size costume version appeared at Shibuya 109, and real-life events were held touring the country in Kanazawa, Himeji, and Hakata. Passersby were actually hugged, and actually smiled - the sight itself felt like a continuation of the commercial.
Afterthought
Near the end, the line "Glad I was born as a sweet" appears, and I ended up tearing up without meaning to. It's enough just to feel that sweets aren't only food - they can lift people's spirits and make the world a little bit better. Hug Hug, I really love this one.
