Dads and Their Daughters
Family Bonds
There is a widely held belief I’m sure we are all aware of, that the closest family bonds are those between father and daughter, and mother and son. There are probably enough exceptions to this generally accepted family norm that it could plausibly be considered to be a gross generalisation, if not a complete fallacy.
Emotional Traction
Nevertheless, true or not, it is a notion, that over time, has gathered considerable emotional traction to represent a rich source of ideas for commercials consisting of heartwarming, family bonding stories, or humorous characterisations of reactionary or over-protective, parental behavior.
Here are my favorite Dad and Daughter commercials.
1. VW South Africa, Thanks Dad
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, South Africa
I saw ‘Thanks Dad’ years ago and have never forgotten it. The commercial was directed by Kim Geldenhuys who has a noteworthy talent for imbuing stories of human interactions and family relationships with great emotional depth and resonating pathos.
2. Volkswagen Polo, Father and Daughter
Advertising Agency: DDB, London
Directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, the commercial speaks volumes without a single line of dialogue or voice commentary.
3. Hyundai Genesis, First Date
Advertising Agency: Innocean Worldwide, U.S.A.
Peter Berg directed this humorous parody of an over-protective Dad brilliantly portrayed by Kevin Hart.
4. Carrefour Financial Services, The Christmas Truce
Advertising Agency: Shackleton, Madrid, Spain
In the midst of the mayhem of WWI on the killing fields of Flanders and later in the Somme valley, there was one brief respite when sanity prevailed with the occurrence of a temporary truce on Christmas Eve in 1914.
Directed by Sánchez Arévalo, this commercial cleverly uses the historic ‘Christmas Truce’ as an analogy for a break in hostilities between father and daughter.
5. Google Chrome, Jess Time
Advertising Agency: BBH, New York
What I love about this commercial is that it doesn’t feel forced or fake. Directed by Nanette Burnstein, It feels heartwarmingly real. It is an effectively subtle reminder of how accessible Google has made it for us to be able to connect face to face, in real-time, with those we love even though they are in distant places.
6. HP Sprocket Photo Printer, Little Moments
Advertising Agency: Giant Spoon, U.S.A
Rudi Schwab directed this commercial that I think displays remarkable creative insight about that pre-teen stage of awkwardness. I’m sure many people, like me, will easily be able to identify with that time in our lives when we desired to appear much more independent and emotionally mature than we actually were.