Heartwarming Irish Christmas advert about coronavirus restrictions goes viral

‘Real one to tug on the heartstrings,’ writes Twitter user

A Christmas advert for an Irish supermarket that looks at how Covid-19 restrictions might impact families over the festive season has gone viral.

SuperValu Ireland released its advert on Wednesday 11 November.

The short video shows a young boy decorating a Christmas tree while listening to a radio broadcaster talk about how the pandemic has imposed restrictions around the world.

“Mum, is he still coming this year?" the boy asks his mother, to which she replies: “Of course he is”.

We then see the young boy writing a letter and asking his parents about preparations for Christmas - all suggesting he is waiting for the arrival of Father Christmas. 

“Did you get the one he likes?” he asks his mother, without specifying whom he is referring to, before rushing into the house to claim that the chocolates his mother bought are “his favourites”.

The boy is shown repeatedly asking his parents if “he” is definitely coming, all the way up to Christmas Eve when he puts out mince pies and a glass of milk, before a knock on the door.

“Grandad!” he yelps in excitement upon seeing that his grandfather has arrived at his house, revealing that he is the mysterious figure that which the boy has been referring to all this time.

“I knew you’d come,” the boy says before rushing to hug his grandfather.

The heartwarming advert has been liked more than 5,600 times on Twitter and garnered hundreds of replies from viewers.

“Oh@SuperValuIRL, this is amazing so many Irish families will feel this, over Christmas love it,” tweeted one person.

“Here in Poland I showed it to my partner while both working from home today, she cried. Later she went upstairs to show her Mother, they both cried. She then went to the top floor to show her sister, they both cried. That's three times she's cried watching the same ad, well done,” another added.

However, some people found the advert upsetting given that it is not yet clear whether children will in fact be able to see their grandparents on Christmas Day due to coronavirus restrictions.

“Very torn on this. It’s lovely in that the kid gets to see grandad for Christmas but then on other hand a lot of people lost grandparents this year to Covid ,” one person pointed out.

Another agreed: “I fear It’s setting kids up for a disappointment if we find ourselves in a situation where they cannot visit .. ‘but the ad said it would be ok’ .. we are all very hopeful that we can turn this around for Christmas but do not advertise it as a foregone conclusion.”