Christmas is a time full of mythical announcements. The commercial departments are immersed in a very important campaign for consumption. However, the dissemination strategies for this advertising have also become more sophisticated over the years. Boomers and millennials continue to consider the first television broadcast of the Christmas Lottery advertisement as the starting signal for the holiday season, while the foray into the digital world allows companies and institutions the possibility of better connecting with generation Z.
Thus, some small establishments have shown that they do not need a large budget or large production to gain visibility among their potential customers this Christmas. This is the case of Charlie's Bar, a pub in the town of Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland, which has gone viral on TikTok with an advertisement that invites fellowship on these dates. In just 4 days, this two-minute video starring an old man and a dog has achieved 110,000 views on the popular social network.
This year's most applauded Christmas advertisement faithfully captures some of the feelings that many people experience during these times. Firstly, the longing for loved ones who are no longer here, as reflected at the beginning of the video, with an older man who goes to the cemetery. Afterwards, the protagonist continues his day like any other and goes to his trusted pub, where he will find in an unexpected friend the empathy that, in general, does not usually awaken in some people.
Already at his table at Charlie's, a dog from other customers approaches the old man and immediately connects with him, to the point where they decide to share a seat. Everything is a sea of caresses and affection. The young owners of the dog, turning around, receive the man's invitation to sit at his table. A conversation and a toast may be all that people who feel unwanted loneliness need at this time (and always) and, in this case, it was the small animal that provided the loving encounter that the old man so needed.
With this, Charlie's Bar has chosen a quote from the Irish poet William Butler Yeats to make this its motto this Christmas: “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven't met yet.” An ode to brotherhood between neighbors, between generations and between people and animals, which has earned the title of the most moving advertisement this Christmas.
