Kimberly M. Reimer

Gut wrenching, melancholy music, sad eyes, neglected, starving, crying, sick, alone, and afraid are just a few descriptions used to reach my emotions in advertising. They are the children who are starving, suffering horrible illnesses, fighting cancer, or who are lost or stolen. The animals that are abused and neglected, alone in cages, cowering, big deep sorrowful eyes begging for someone to love them. The families left with no home because of fire or flood living in shelters or under bridges. Military men and women leaving their families behind to go to war. All are very powerful images to promote raising funds for charity.

Some of the commercials I see are for Feed the Children, Red Cross, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, St. Jude. Other businesses sponsor emotion-tugging ads with only their name at the very end. Salute by Anheuser Busch is a tribute to the troops returning home. Their airport arrival triggers spontaneous clapping and cheering from the crowd. I am deeply moved by this, as I am the wife of a soldier who was once deployed. It was one of the most difficult times in my life and to see people who can appreciate what these men and women go through just moves me to tears.

When my heart is touched by commercials, I find it hard to resist wanting to do something to contribute to these great needs, adopt an animal, or thank a soldier. These commercials stay with us and the images can be haunting. Perhaps, it keeps us humble knowing we are lucky and we should help the less fortunate.

What about you? Isn’t it time we shared a bit of what we have with someone less fortunate?

Graphic Credit:
Animationfactory.com