Toyota of Japan has released a heart-rending new ad just in time for Father’s Day.
The spot begins with a father welcoming his newborn daughter into his life, by affixing a “Baby on Board” sticker to his red Supra (or Celica XX, as it was called in Japan). What follows is the daughter’s life unfolding before the father’s eyes, a montage of childhood and adolescence depicted in a series of fast cuts both clever and touching.
The kicker comes halfway through the commercial when perspective shifts and suddenly all the events that took place in the first half are replayed, but this time from the daughter’s point of view. Scene for scene, every moment is matched in a series of shots that would make any movie director’s head spin.
Beautifully filmed, each shot takes no more than a second or two. However, a volume of emotions is conveyed in each one, especially during the surly teenage years when the daughter is embarrassed to see her harried dad shaving while driving, or when the audience gets a bonus reveal of what happened to the mittens the dad gifts to her.
We also see the progression of time in the dad’s choice of car, from Supra to Mark II (sold in the US as the Cressida) to Estima (aka Previa) to Prius to Corolla Fielder, the last of which arrives just in time for dad to stick another “Baby on Board” decal onto when the family’s next generation arrives.
Of course, the entire spot is an ad for the Toyota Safety Sense suite of electronic minders, which includes automatic brake activation when a rear-end collision is imminent. The tagline at the end reads, roughly translated, Love works invisibly, Toyota watches over you.” Watch the video below, and bring a bowl of chopped onions with you in case someone walks in on you.
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