Months ago, when the pre-Olympic advertising campaigns started, I didn’t think I was going to make it to August 8 if this commercial, narrated by the Voice of God, was indicative of what was to come:
Moved me to tears every time I saw it.
Luckily, other spots in the series, including profiles of Kerri Strug and Michael Phelps are lighter, even humorous, in tone.
Then came an ad, which I haven’t been able to find online (let me know if you have!), which articulates what it is I love about sports—how they demonstrate physically the possibilities of the human condition, how they constantly push the limits of what the human body is capable of—only much more eloquently:
Maybe it’s not where an athlete’s from that makes us root for them.
Maybe it’s not the flag on their back
or the anthem that we hear when they win
that makes us cheer.
Maybe it’s simply
that they are human
and we are human,
and when they succeed,
we succeed.
The sentiment does feel slightly tainted by the fact that it’s being used to shill credit cards. But, just as some of the most innovative filmmaking can be found in music videos, there is great writing going on in advertising.
Mots Justes 