History TearJerker / Advertising

** One more for the pile of tissues: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBobmn_u98w "Silence of Love"]], a daughter dealing with teasing over her father being a deaf-mute and being unable to communicate with him properly. [[spoiler: She's DrivenToSuicide over it, and he risks his own life to save hers via direct blood transfusion]].

* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu9sWjnJFHU This commercial for Cesar dog food]] features a man and his West Highland terrier who visit a grave (assumed to be his deceased wife). Not only the way the story is told in 60 seconds, but also the portrayal of the bond between man and dog, really stirs the emotions.

* Concerned Children's Advertisers sponsored a PSA back in the mid-90's or thereabouts. It featured a young man visiting his estranged friend in drug rehab, intercut with flashbacks to their carefree childhoods, all while "He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother" played in the background.

[[folder:PSAs]]

* ''Chipotle'' has an online advertisement for an android game of theirs called "[[www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE The Scarecrow]]". It depicts a scarecrow who works in the meat industry. The face on the cow as he closes the door is just heartbreaking.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OekR7Ocu86M This commercial]] for Knorr Sidekicks dubbed "Salty". It's supposed to be funny, but it's hard to see the humour in something so cute as a humanized salt shaker being so unwanted, especially when one knows the feeling.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXz_1mTZCUI Segata Sanshiro's final commercial]] for the SegaSaturn will have you weeping ManlyTears before the end of it.
* You probably have to be a Florida alum for this effect to kick in, but the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9FcrQrjdNw university's]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXelE1j7QbE series]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlnPVqs005E of]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhLbzCIDiR0 "Go Gators!"]] commercials bring a tear every time. Especially those last two.
** "The Michigan Difference" (seen [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLf45uNlo9w here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2DgPUqwEdc here]]). Seeing the Survival Flight chopper take off is particularly wrenching, knowing that they're still flying despite losing a crew (pilots, surgeons and perfusionists) on takeoff from Milwaukee two years ago.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CC2BE7A93D2B4895& The Thai Insurance ads.]] They usually give a glimpse of people's lives suffering through some sort of misfortune (an old woman unable to play piano anymore, three kids living in poverty) only to be lifted upward by a kind soul (the woman's daughter playing piano for her, the three kids adopted by a caring mother).
** One more for the pile of tissues: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBobmn_u98w "Silence of Love"]], a daughter dealing with teasing over her father being a deaf-mute and being unable to communicate with him properly. [[spoiler: She's DrivenToSuicide over it, and he risks his own life to save hers via direct blood transfusion]].
* Speaking of Thai ads, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A this Pantene commercial is just]]... Wow. It's about the story of a deaf and mute girl who learns to play the violin against all odds. "You can shine." Although this overlaps with WhatWereTheySellingAgain
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaP5AY673ws Another Thai ad]], this time for ''ceiling panels''. Two geckos in love are tragically separated by the male falling out of a crack in a ceiling panel.
* Barnardo's, a British charity that works with vulnerable children, has a few depressing ads:
** A TV commercial showed a series of vignettes from a girl's life: injecting heroin, mugging someone to feed her addiction, being locked up, beaten by her father, and bullied at school because she can't read. These repeat and repeat at increasingly vicious speed, ending with a statement that Barnardo's is often the only way for such kids to break the cycle of violence and abuse.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAYLh09JxJE The Life Story Advert]], where an adult is shown talking to a psychiatrist. He subtly ages down as he speaks to the audience about his childhood.

* The Subaru ads where a guy is looking at his smashed-up Subaru in a junk yard and says that it saved his life, so he takes the top of the stick shift off and drives away with sad music in the background.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I6D0zCUQY0 The Missing Dog commercial]]: a man lost his dog and is doing everything he can to find him. After some girls find the dog and see the poster, they call the master and show him a video of the dog in their possession. Yep, all this for a cellphone commercial.

* Those AT&T commercials with the child-like drawings. That song, the images of them falling.
** While on the subject of AT&T, the "It Can Wait" commercials are actually really depressing. Having no music or no announcer speaking after a person tells their story relating to the commercial's topic of texting and driving doesn't really help.

* Continuing from the Michael Jordan example above, there's a commercial that Nike aired in the final month of Jordan's career. Remember good 'ol Mars Blackmon from the Air Jordan commercials? Cut back to almost 20 years later, Mars is on the phone with Jordan, still in shock over Jordan's retirement. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8HMlN3dtF8 It was Michael Jordan's last Air Jordan commercial]], and quite possibly the last time we'd see Mars Blackmon. It manages to be [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time]]:
-->'''Mars:''' You're gonna hang em up? You'll be playing golf? [[MythologyGag No baseball though?]] [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Arrivederci? Sayonara? Adios? Auf Wiedersehen?]] So long? Farewell? Goodbye? For good? [[TenMinuteRetirement Again?]]\\
'''Jordan:''' Goodbye, Mars. (hangs up)

* There was a Skittles commercial that was supposed to be funny, but was just downright depressing. It involved a man who could turn anything into Skittles by touching it. But as he describes, he can't [[BlessedWithSuck touch anyone or anything]] without them turning into Skittles. He couldn't touch his newborn son, he accidentally killed a guy by shaking his hand, and other depressing things.

* A [=McDonald=]'s commercial in the early 1980s about a little boy whose parents just brought home a new baby. A voice sings about the new baby, then there's a shot of family members oohing and ahhing over the baby and its big blue eyes, while ignoring the little boy. The voice then sings "Doesn't anybody remember..." and the little boy, completely dejected, looks at himself in the mirror and sadly tells his reflection "I had blue eyes first." If you ever felt like TheUnfavorite, this could [[TruthInTelevision hit close to home]].
* Several ads for Google Chrome. If you can watch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDPJ-o1leAw& this]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk this]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7skPnJOZYdA this]] without blubbing you are made of stronger stuff than most. And this is in ads for a ''web browser''.
** Here's a Google Chrome commercial with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xExy_FCC0PA Hatsune Miku]]. All those dedicated fans...
* [[http://youtu.be/TkyoCHCZlKw This advert for Aviva]] starts out like any normal insurance commercial. Then there's a tearjerking twist near the end. [[spoiler:The father that was talking about his family turns out to be a ghost and as soon as that fact is realized, he is no longer there.]]
* A recent Hardee's commercial features a robot buying one of their hand-breaded chicken fillet sandwiches, only to realize he doesn't have a mouth, becoming depressed. The fact that the narrator expresses NoSympathy towards the robot's misery doesn't help, either. It was meant to be funny, but it just ends up becoming a {{Glurge}}-ridden piece of CringeComedy that becomes [[FridgeHorror more depressing in hindsight]]. There's even an extended version where the robot destroys a room in a fit of rage.

* Allan Gray's commercial on the legend Jimmy Dean. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGxrjqF1K04 "...and in the year 1955, he was 24 years old."]]
* This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvu9XLLsas McDonald's commercial]] about a family slowly growing apart over the years: At first, everyone was at the table, chattering happily, with their new baby sister. Then it showed the family growing fewer, one by one, 'til only the mom and dad are left in their old age. Made even sadder by the song playing. It turned [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] at the end though, when the whole family is shown (with some new additions) at [=McDonald=]'s for a reunion.

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghHTrbxkrWg 2012]] ''Advertising/CompareTheMeerkat'' advertisement. It's a series that's been going on for years and the duo... Watch his lip.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPwgPe8XZ20 Trifexis commercial]] just seems silly at first glance. But being trapped in that ridiculous oversized rodent tube thing, the dog has barely any room for maneuverability, can't interact with the world around it, and worse, can't be close with its family. Makes the ending where it's let out something of a HeartwarmingMoment by comparison.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0x9punvi9o This]] eBay commercial. An old tugboat that a child lost in the 1970s manages to find its way to Asia and put up for auction on eBay... and the grown child managed to come across it while web surfing.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2prAccclXs "Brotherhood"]] by Budweiser. A man and a horse share a great kinship.
** That Budweiser commercial is a TearJerker and a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming all at once! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3eQmzw6n3k This]] one, however, also deserves a mention here. It was aired after 9/11 and only once just to acknowledge the tragic event. It ''will'' make you cry.
* A [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyeDBZaxFa8 new advert]] in the UK for Robinsons' Juice has two boys playing together outside, teasing each other about girls, drinking the orange juice and watching a film together at home. The first boy falls asleep on the couch, and the second boy takes off his shoes for him, carries him upstairs and puts him into bed. As the second boy walks out, he pauses at the door and the first boy sleepily says [[spoiler:"Night, Dad." We see the 'second boy' at the door again, now grown-up as his Dad. As the text says at the end "It's Good To Be A Dad, It's Better To Be A Friend."]] Brilliant ad that nearly made me, a 22 year old guy without kids, cry.
* [[ContestWinnerCameo Every year, the Australian TAC hold a competition to direct and produce one of their commercials.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2X9Q-Xre_Q This is one of them.]]

* [[http://youtu.be/njTlLNb0nCA this]] advert from the UK drinking and driving wrecks lives campaign. A little girl is awake in the middle of the night while her mother is heard screaming hysterically at her father because while he was driving intoxicated he killed a little boy. Heartbreaking.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnbU7m-z5o This]] critically acclaimed Purina commercial is this along with a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. It makes you look at your own dog and remember how ''great'' he/she is to you, even if they've never won any medals or sniffed any bombs.

* An Ireland PSA against drunk driving has a soccer player drive while drunk and crash into a backyard, running over a toddler. The driver gets out to see the boy's father (who a few minutes ago was playing with the boy) holding his dead son and wailing, while the narrator asks if you could live with the guilt.

*** Like most of the PSA's in the mid 90's (this dates from 1997), the VO pleads, "Not one more lost life. Not one more grieving family. Not. One. More."

** If this isn't saddening enough, a shot of a baby in a crib crying out for Mommy is heart-wrenching.

* Iceland's road safety agency, Umferdarstofa, has a lot of weepies.

* Even McGruff makes you cry, even though his face is shown at the ads.
** For instance, this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg6vAQxWT9k early 90's PSA]] shows a woman with her dead son on her lap. She sings "Hush, Little Baby" to him as a policewoman comes to comfort her. Her husband runs to the scene and cries over his body. [[spoiler: The PSA ends with the said boy's funeral.]]

** Speaking of the "Not One More" PSA's here's another one. It's about a girl who talks about inviting her mother and her friends. She talks about having nice music and a pretty blue dress. [[spoiler: But she isn't talking about her sweet sixteen or her quinceañera - she's talking about her funeral. Before we cut to the NCPC phone number, Ad Council, and McGruff's visage, a white casket is displayed in front of an open window.]]

* [[http://youtu.be/njTlLNb0nCA this]] advert from the UK drinking and driving wrecks lives campaign. A little girl is awake in the middle of the night while her mother is heard screaming hysterically at her father because while he was driving intoxicated he killed a little boy. Heartbreaking

** One more for the pile of tissues: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBobmn_u98w "Silence of Love"]], a daughter dealing with teasing over his father being deaf and being unable to communicate with him properly.
* Speaking of Thai ads, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A this Pantene commercial is just]]... Wow. It's about the story of a deaf and mute girl who learns to play the violin against all odds. "You can shine."

* [[ContestWinnerCameo Every year, the Australian TAC hold a competition to direct and produce one of their commercials.]] [[http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=g2X9Q-Xre_Q&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dg2X9Q-Xre_Q This is one of them.]]

** The Pedigree adoption drive ads. Every. Damn. Time.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Xh-tZrzwk This. Damn. Commercial.]] Natalie Merchant's ''My Skin'' is lethal to hearts. The captions don't help any. "What did I do wrong?... Why did they hurt me?... Why did they abandon me?... Will I ''die'' today?"
** Also, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZnnhC2iyoA this]] anti-dogfighting ad. "You're my best friend," that quote will echo in one's head for a while.

** "The Michigan Difference" (seen [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLf45uNlo9w here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2DgPUqwEdc here]]). Seeing the Survival Flight chopper take off is particularly wrenching, knowing that they're still flying despite losing an entire crew (pilots, surgeons and perfusionists) on takeoff from Milwaukee two years ago.

* Continuing from the Michael Jordan example above, there's a commercial that Nike aired in the final month of Jordan's career. Remember good 'ol Mars Blackmon from the Air Jordan commercials? Cut back to almost 20 years later, Mars is on the phone with Jordan, still in shock over Jordan's retirement. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8HMlN3dtF8 It was basically Michael Jordan's last Air Jordan commercial]], and quite possibly the last time we'd see Mars Blackmon. It manages to be [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time]]:

* Hell. Go to Australia. Watch the local channels, and just wait for an anti-smoking, anti-drug or road-safe ad to come on.
** The road-safe ads especially. The Australia Road-Safe advertisers don't just show you a car crash or a gravestone, they will show you graphic reconstructions of devastating accidents and the effect they have on both the family and the person at fault. Not to mention, they have ads which are just footage of family and friends of actual casualties speaking about how the incident has affected them.

* Several ads for Google Chrome. If you can watch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDPJ-o1leAw& this]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk this]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7skPnJOZYdA this]] without blubbing you are made of stronger stuff than most. And this is in ads for a ''web browser'' of all things.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rUFoLVtwMc This]] Australian anti-smoking ad. [[ManlyTears Paternal Tears]]

* Oh man, any animal shelter ad, especially those evil, evil ones by the ASPCA with the sad music and [[NightmareFuel pictures of abused animals]] and the worst part is that they seem to go on ''forever''. Good lord. There is a local shelter ad that has more [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming uplifting, eyes-get-misty-in-a-good-way]] ads showing before and after pictures of animals after being nursed back to health and looking all happy.

* This one anti-drinking commercial with the little girl who says that in seven years, she'll be an alcoholic. it's at least DEPRESSING. They used a LITTLE GIRL!

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaP5AY673ws Another Thai ad]], this time for ''ceiling panels''. Two geckos in love are tragically separated by the male falling out of a crack in a ceiling panel.

* A McDonald's commercial in the early 1980s about a little boy whose parents just brought home a new baby. A voice sings about the new baby, then there's a shot of family members oohing and ahhing over the baby and its big blue eyes, while ignoring the little boy. The voice then sings "Doesn't anybody remember..." and the little boy, completely dejected, looks at himself in the mirror and sadly tells his reflection "I had blue eyes first." If you ever felt like TheUnfavorite, this could [[TruthInTelevision hit close to home]].

* This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvu9XLLsas McDonald's commercial]] about a family slowly growing apart over the years: At first, everyone was at the table, chattering happily, with their new baby sister. Then it showed the family growing fewer, one by one, 'til only the mom and dad are left in their old age. Made even sadder by the song playing. It turned [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] at the end though, when the whole family is shown (with some new additions) at McDonald's for a reunion.
* "[[IndyCar We have lost Dan Wheldon]]"

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLlwNq1cKb8 This Australian anti-drug ad.]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPNDv4A9OU This Foundation for a Better Life commercial.]]

*** One of them, however, has a heartwarming [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH3pA29MG5k&feature=related follow-up]].
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Xh-tZrzwk&playnext_from=TL&videos=rsyyiMwcCTQ This. Damn. Commercial.]] Natalie Merchant's ''My Skin'' is lethal to hearts. The captions don't help any. "What did I do wrong?... Why did they hurt me?... Why did they abandon me?... Will I ''die'' today?"
** Also, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZnnhC2iyoA&feature=related this]] anti-dogfighting ad. "You're my best friend." * sniff*

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OekR7Ocu86M This commercial]] for Knorr Sidekicks. It's supposed to be funny, but it's hard to see the humour in something so cute being so unwanted, especially when you know the feeling.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKoCsMLzy8k You are not alone.]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXz_1mTZCUI Segata Sanshiro's final commercial for the Saturn]] will have you weeping ManlyTears before the end of it.
* You probably have to be a Florida alum for this effect to kick in, but the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9FcrQrjdNw&feature=related university's]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXelE1j7QbE&feature=related series]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlnPVqs005E&feature=related of]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhLbzCIDiR0 "Go Gators!"]] commercials bring a tear every time. Especially those last two.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CC2BE7A93D2B4895& The Thai insurance ads.]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR5mZqeDNtg This one]].
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBobmn_u98w One more for the pile of tissues.]]
* Speaking of Thai ads, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A this Pantene commercial is just]]... Wow.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaP5AY673ws Another Thai ad]], this time for ''ceiling panels''. Poor little geckos...

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I6D0zCUQY0 The Missing Dog commercial]].

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ I love the whole world, it's such a brilliant place...]]
* An ad on MTV, where a donkey travels across the screen in a gritty urban-landscape and after it a text appears. "It takes 20 second for the donkey to reach the other side of the screen. By then, two children die because of starvation. Help now." It really hit the point home with the facts in a really, ''really'' sad way.
* The Meth Project ads where the rehabed users are shown everything they gave up for meth. Having a child makes the one of the young father touching the face of the mannequin very painful.

* A McDonalds commercial in the early 1980s about a little boy whose parents just brought home a new baby. A voice sings about the new baby, then there's a shot of family members oohing and ahhing over the baby and its big blue eyes, while ignoring the little boy. The voice then sings "Doesn't anybody remember..." and the little boy, completely dejected, looks at himself in the mirror and sadly tells his reflection "I had blue eyes first."
** If you ever felt like TheUnfavorite, this could [[TruthInTelevision hit close to home]]
* Several ads for [[=GoogleChrome=]. If you can watch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDPJ-o1leAw& this]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk this]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7skPnJOZYdA this]] without blubbing you are made of stronger stuff than most. And this is in ads for a ''web browser'' of all things.
* [[http://youtu.be/TkyoCHCZlKw this advert for Aviva]] starts out like any normal insurance commercial. Then there's a tearjerking twist near the end.
* A recent Hardee's commercial features a robot buying one of their hand-breaded chicken fillet sandwiches, only to realize he doesn't have a mouth, becoming depressed. The fact that the narrator expresses NoSympathy towards the robot's misery doesn't help, either. It was meant to be funny, but it just ends up becoming a {{Glurge}}-ridden piece of CringeComedy that becomes [[FridgeHorror more depressing in hindsight]]. See it for yourself [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc7WRjU5G-E&feature=relmfu here]], but be warned.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrRd3vpvp2w The extended version]] only makes it worse. In it, the robot gets mad and destroys the room before getting depressed.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etyQhv3JLxU These]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WadN4iEoUcI&NR=1 two]] old anti-AIDS Public Service Announcements. To say that these stories are depressing is an understatement.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGxrjqF1K04&feature=player_embedded ...and in the year 1955, he was 24 years old.]]
* This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvu9XLLsas McDonald's commercial]] about a family slowly growing apart over the years: At first, everyone was at the table, chattering happily, with their new baby sister. Then it showed the family growing fewer, one by one, 'til only the mom and dad are left in their old age. Made even sadder by the song playing. It turned [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] at the end though, when the whole family is shown (with some new additions) at McDonalds for a reunion.

* The UK [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM "Embrace Life"]] advert promoting seatbelt-use, showing that a PSA can be just as effective without going into {{Scare Em Straight}} territory.

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ghHTrbxkrWg 2012]] ''Advertising/CompareTheMeerkat'' advertisement. It's a series that's been going on for years and the duo... Watch his lip.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0x9punvi9o This]] eBay commercial.
* Here's a Google Chrome commericial with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xExy_FCC0PA Hatsune Miku]]. All those dedicated fans...
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttXQcvSL5c8 This]] hits hard especially if you have a best buddy that you've known since childhood...

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2prAccclXs This]] Budweiser commercial will get you every time.
** That Budweiser commercial is a TearJerker and a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming all at once! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3eQmzw6n3k This]] one, however, also deserves a mention here. It was aired after 9/11 and only once. It WILL make you cry.