Why Bring a Child Into This World?

     It’s the weirdest thing. Normally, I’m all about the whole “commercials and advertisements are too much of a waste of time” idea. Yet when it comes to the exceedingly long commercials (which are usually between one to four minutes long), I actually tend to enjoy those commercials. Why? Because that, to me, means that the brands and companies behind these commercials put in the extra work to create a thoughtful advertisement or message. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but as for this Unilever commercial, it most definitely is.

     As I was waiting for some music to load on YouTube one day, this commercial began to play. Usually, I just wait the standard five seconds that you’re required to wait for and then skip ahead to the video, but this one caught my eye, so I decided to be patient and watch. When I finished the video, I sat there for a second. I dropped what I had been doing in order to watch the video again.

     You may have been as confused as I was after first watching the video. Here we have these prenatal families being shown this horrific video of monstrosities that happen throughout the world every day. Okay cool. The commercial then moves into why you SHOULD bring a child into this world; stating things like how there’s in ever-increasing production of food, there’s access to clean drinking water, and the like. That’s great too.

     It’s around (2:20) that the commercial seems to divert from its message. The voice that you here speaking goes from talking about how today’s generation has a greater chance of having a healthy heart, only to stray away by stating that they’ll have the same chance of having a broken heart. Although this is very touching, it ultimately distracts from what the commercial is really advocating for. Another distraction comes shortly after, when he mentions that the child we always have a tree in which to hide and cry. Although the point of this statement is to show that this group is advocating for the preservation of trees and other wildlife, once again, this proves to be a distraction.

     The commercial then goes on to encourage you to bring a child into this world because “there’s never been a better time than now.” The commercial ends with a second interview with to-be parents and their reaction to the movement, followed by Unilever’s message that it is launching Project Sunlight.

       Okay, so there’s a LOT to be taken in from this commercial, you’ve got a lot of different things being thrown at you, both emotional and factual. Because of this, what the commercial may be trying to vouch for may be unclear. So I went to projectsunlight.com to get a better look at what Project Sunlight was all about. Turns out, it wasn't that far off from the original commercial:

     So if you do the extra digging, then you can see what the project stands for. And it’s a fantastic movement. The problem is that most people just don’t have the time to take six minutes out of their day to watch a video that could change their life.