This Spanish Tearjerker May Make You Emotional About... Bananas?

A new longform spot from Spain, marking the early January Three Kings Festival (Epiphany), tells the emotive story of a little girl's bond with her grandfather. What's surprising about it is that it's not for a telecom or tech company, but a banana brand -- Plátano de Canarias.

The film, directed by Rodrigo Garcia Saiz of Central Films for Madrid agency El Ruso de Rocky, tells the story of a little girl whose grandfather picks her up from school every week and takes her to a junkyard, where they sit in a rusted-out old car (maybe his). There, they snack on bananas, put on goggles and seem to enter a fantasy world, in which they are cowboys, astronauts, deep sea divers and more: it's like virtual reality but without the headsets. At home, the little girl's father is kind but always on the phone and busy, so her bond with her grandfather becomes deeper.

Inevitably (as in all films about grandparents) the old man one day passes away, and the little girl is sad. For the Three Kings festival, her parents encourage her to place a bunch of bananas under the tree and she makes a wish -- for Santa to bring her a new co-pilot. The ending, in which Dad finally realizes what he needs to do, may bring a tear to your eye.

The spot, which aired in Spain on Jan. 6, is a continuation of the banana brand's "Savor every day" campaign, which was first launched in April 2017. While the banana connection seems to us a little tenuous, it's still an example of how a great director can bring a surprisingly emotive touch to an unexpected category.