Unlike many sports ad that shows triumph over adversary, this ad shows otherwise. Defeat is as crucial as victory and touching on the other end of the story makes this ad warm and inspirational. Morgan Freeman’s soulful voice renders a teary-eyed viewer into a weeping kitten in a cry-me-a-river fashion.

Again, the basic elements of touching anybody’s heart are all in here. Derek Redmond’s pain (not only physically) can be felt through his face, along with his father, the honor and pride of finishing up the event no matter what is dramatic. The message is clear; it’s the heart of finishing what you’ve started and not the medal that matters in the end.

This is not just any commercial, not just another Visa advertisement, sometimes ads like this makes us think and relate—go on, no matter what, carry on!

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Note from Reah Guevarra: This commercial reminded me of the Disney-Pixar film Cars, wherin Lightning McQueen helped Strip “The King” Weathers to the finished line. Maybe the makers were inspired by the event. I don’t know.

Just like the Ikea Lamp commercial, this 2007 ad for General Motors made me feel bad for an inanimate object.

The GM robot was fired after making a mistake in his work. So the robot applied for other jobs but all left him unsatisfied, so he decided to commit suicide. Luckily, everything was just the robot’s nightmare.

Making viewers symphatize with a lifeless object is such a creative feat. Thus, I would like to commend the people behind this GM robot commercial. They did a great job–choosing the “All by myself” song, getting the right shots, and ending it with a waking-up-from-a-bad-dream scene, just to tell the viewers and GM customers that in General Motors they manufacture high-quality cars.

I had read some comments though that the commercial was an irony since General Motors employees went on strike last September 24-26 2007.