江崎グリコ | smile.Glico | 2014
Simple Enough for a Kid to Get—That's Why It Hits So Hard / Ezaki Glico "smile.Glico: If Everyone's Mood Gets Better, the World Will Surely Be Fine"
Satoshi Tsumabuki, dressed up as a clown, goes around turning grumpy people from all over the world into smiling ones, one after another. Because it's a long-form video, watching it leaves you with a feeling like you just finished a movie.
The insight
"If everyone's mood gets better, the world will surely be fine"—it's logic simple enough for an elementary schooler to understand. Sweets are things that lift your mood, and if everyone's mood lifts, the world gets better. I think it's exactly because it works on that simple a level that it hits home so strongly.
The idea
Tsumabuki plays a clown-like embodiment of the sweets, and he turns grumpy people into smiling ones one by one—a couple in the middle of a fight, a team leader scolding his climbing group, a girl feeling down after a breakup.
What happened
It began airing nationwide on 2/8/2014.
Afterthought
I found myself wondering why such a great commercial doesn't seem to be reaching people. Maybe it's because folks don't watch TV as much anymore. I should probably watch more myself, I thought, feeling a little guilty. What a lovely commercial.
