What a perfect precursor to Valentine’s Day 2015! If the cold bleakness of February is getting you down, this ad is sure to pick you right back up. Hallmark’s new commercial features a real-life lesbian couple talking about all the things they love about each other, and it’s perhaps the cutest thing ever. While queer ads are not exactly new, it is much more common to see the male side rather than the female, thus making Hallmark’s view of love this year all the more wonderful.
Eugenia and Corinna are not your perfect, femme, lesbian couple. Don’t get me wrong, they’re absolutely adorable, but in a totally real, relatable way, which in my opinion, makes the ad that much more successful. In it, they’re just sitting on a couch talking about how they first met and began to fall in love. As the spot progresses, they’re taken into different spaces where they’re each prompted to describe and eventually write down exactly what it is they love about each other. This is the idea behind Hallmarks #PutYourHeartToPaper campaign, and the results are natural and beautiful. Watch the whole video here:
If you’re like me and love seeing ads that finally show us what modern love looks like, here are a few more that are sure to tug at your heart strings.
1. The Honey Maid Love Commercial
This ad came out last year and showed all sorts of families — gay, straight, interracial, single parent, etc. — living life and loving each other in and around eating Honey Maid graham crackers. It initially had an incredibly positive reception, and the company’s response to such encouragement was equally lovely: “As a brand that has been a part of families’ lives for nearly 90 years, Honey Maid recognizes that while the makeup and day-to-day lives of families have evolved, the idea and importance of wholesome family connections remains the same.”
2. The Honey Maid ‘Love’ in Response to Anti-Gay Commercial Backlash
And then, because we still live in a country where people fear change, there was the inevitable anti-gay backlash to the company’s initial ‘Love’ Campaign. However, the company’s response to these messages of hate was perhaps even more epic than their first commercial. After all, everyone knows the strongest weapon against hate is love.
3. Cheerios ‘Game Day’ / ‘Gracie’
Aww jeez, this one just kills me. Cheerios’ Super Bowl ad last year featured an interracial couple with a little girl who learns her family is about to welcome a new addition. Again, there was some bigoted backlash, but YouTube simply removed those comments. This one is super cute, so be prepared to giggle awkwardly if you’re at work.
4. Coca Cola ‘America is Beautiful’
This one will definitely give you chills. Coca Cola’s Super Bowl ad last year featured couples of varying races and sexual inclinations enjoying the simple pleasures of our country while voices trade off singing “America The Beautiful” in different languages. For whatever reason, the backlash against this ad was so strong, people were actually trying to organize boycotts of the brand. A silly notion considering how many interracial ads Coke has run in the past, and they’re still at the forefront of the beverage train in America.
5. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Commercial
OK, so I love this one especially because I did not see it coming. And the reason I did not see it coming is part of the brilliance of the ad — the gay couple represented are not stereotyped in the slightest. It’s a little surprise wink at the end that pretty much calls you out for making snap judgments, but in a clever, funny way. In my opinion, this is the most brilliant kind of advertising — when you’re essentially being called an idiot, but you wouldn’t know it because you’re enjoying the punchline too much.
6. Tylenol – For What Matters Most
Let me bookend this article with another lesbian-centric ad from Tylenol that I think is astonishing for how it essentially rebrands our idea of “traditional.” This commercial is relatively new and reimagines Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom From Want” painting with three diverse families, including a pair of lesbian moms who are raising their children with one partner’s ex-husband. It asks us what Norman Rockwell’s traditional family dinner would look like today, and what we get are three very distinctive representations that each answer that question perfectly. If you’re not a sobbing mess on the floor right now, you should get your tear ducts checked out.
More on great commercials
Super Bowl XLIX commercials: Our one-sentence reactions to all 36 of them
Coke’s Super Bowl clip: 10 Things more “un-American”
Victoria Secret’s Super Bowl commercial is like nothing we’ve ever seen before (VIDEO)
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