Last year, Chevrolet ran an ad that was emotional from beginning to end. The advertisement, “Holiday Ride,” was about a man remembering his deceased wife by way of his last contact with her. It was an old Chevy convertible which he kept in storage. The woman's daughter, sensing the pain in his eyes, asks locals to help fix the car and gives it away as a present to her dad, saying with tears in her eyes, “It's what Mom would have wanted.”
The automaker returns with another commercial just in time for the holidays and it's as cinematic as it is an impressive advertisement.
The ad for this year's campaign, “Mrs. Hayes,” tells the story of a woman that lost her husband during a conflict decades ago, but discovers a brand new home in the community she's settled into and is particularly close to a boy named Billy. As Billy gets older, she gets involved in his life as well as the lives of the other kids in the area.
The film begins by showing the wife, Hayes, struggling to get her car – which her husband and she owned together. She flashed back to dropping the man off at a recruiting office, and then quickly rewinds to her bringing his personal belongings home. It's pretty obvious early in the film that she's lost him, and she moves into a house which, as we're able to guess, was the one they were hoping to reside in for the rest of their lives.
However, Billy happens to hit an errant baseball directly at the car. She meets him and is the beginning of a long-lasting relationship. In the long version of the advertisement, and also the smaller, TV-specific version, we can see Billy helping her in her car, helping with her home, etc.
Then, we go back to the first scene and who's there? A mature Billy who brings Mrs. Hayes and her groceries to his home in his vehicle (a Chevrolet vehicle, naturally). He returns in the dark, not knowing what he's doing and gets the car repaired, surprising her the next morning.
The commercial hits a lot of positive notes. While it's not as sad as the one from last year, it is a powerful reminder of love, family, and the importance of community. That message, to be honest, is one that we urgently need now.
As the Christmas season gets underway, there are many of us with no loved ones or aren't connected to those who matter to us the most. There is a reason why millions of people across the globe are separated from the ones they care about the most. However, rather than retreating from the world, it's vital to go out into the world to have a positive effect on the lives of others, since it fills the empty space inside that was left by the people we've lost.
Also, thank you, Chevy for yet again producing a strong commercial that hits all of the important notes. This is the kind of thing we're in need of today.
