GERMANY A controversial holiday ad for a German supermarket has people around the globe talking.
The Edeka ad which has more than 20.5 million views on YouTube to date follows an elderly man whose children call to tell him they wont be making it home for Christmas.
Well try again next year, his daughter says. Itll work out, I promise. Merry Christmas, daddy.
The man sadly resigns himself to the fact that hell be spending the holidays alone.
Next we see his children spread around the world opening letters and text messages, informing them their father has died. Tears in their eyes, they pack their bags and head home full of regret and heartbreak.
They reunite at their fathers home, embracing. Together they walk into his house, turn the corner to the dining room and see a beautifully adorned table waiting for them. And the twist dad himself walks around the corner to greet them.
How else could I have brought you all together? he asks.
Talk about extreme measures.
Reaction to the commercial has been mixed. Some are singing its praises, applauding the message that one should spend time with those they love before its too late.
Be nice to your loved ones while you still can, wrote one YouTube commenter.
Really touching and amazing, wrote another.
Others, however, say the supermarket may have gone a step too far.
The cruel old man needs to wonder why no one wants to be with him for Christmas in the first place and stop playing cruel jokes, said one commenter.
Did they kill him for real after he pulled that prank? wrote another.
Edeka is Germanys largest supermarket corporation.
The Edeka ad which has more than 20.5 million views on YouTube to date follows an elderly man whose children call to tell him they wont be making it home for Christmas.
Well try again next year, his daughter says. Itll work out, I promise. Merry Christmas, daddy.
The man sadly resigns himself to the fact that hell be spending the holidays alone.
Next we see his children spread around the world opening letters and text messages, informing them their father has died. Tears in their eyes, they pack their bags and head home full of regret and heartbreak.
They reunite at their fathers home, embracing. Together they walk into his house, turn the corner to the dining room and see a beautifully adorned table waiting for them. And the twist dad himself walks around the corner to greet them.
How else could I have brought you all together? he asks.
Talk about extreme measures.
Reaction to the commercial has been mixed. Some are singing its praises, applauding the message that one should spend time with those they love before its too late.
Be nice to your loved ones while you still can, wrote one YouTube commenter.
Really touching and amazing, wrote another.
Others, however, say the supermarket may have gone a step too far.
The cruel old man needs to wonder why no one wants to be with him for Christmas in the first place and stop playing cruel jokes, said one commenter.
Did they kill him for real after he pulled that prank? wrote another.
Edeka is Germanys largest supermarket corporation.
