This emotive campaign challenges the stigma around adoption in the Middle East

Adoption in its conventional form—a child becoming a full, legal member of a family that they weren’t born into—is prohibited in many countries across the Middle East, and alternatives to adoption, such as fostering, are often condemned. 

But Home Centre, a furniture retailer in the Middle East, is striving to eliminate the stigma surrounding adoption and fostering with a new initiative aiming to demystify the adoption process for interested families and depict the joy that adoption can provide. 

The initiative, titled “The Homecoming,” revolves around a three-minute-long film illustrating one couple’s journey to adopt a child, which Home Centre produced in partnership with Publicis Groupe MENAT and Leo Burnett Middle East. Inspired by interviews with several couples who have adopted a child or hope to in the future, the film portrays the complex emotions that accompany a fictional couple’s experience with the adoption process, including disapproval from their relatives and society and the frustration of navigating the challenging legal process. 

However, the video—which features a sweet, gentle cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love”—also highlights the couple’s excitement as they anticipate the day they get to meet their new child. The couple eagerly prepare a nursery and use sticky notes to count down to the day of the adoption, and the film concludes with their unbridled joy upon finally opening the door to see the child awaiting them in a crib. 

“Just because they are not born our own doesn’t mean we can’t give them a home,” reads text that fades in over scenes of the couple bonding with the new member of their family. “Home Centre encourages all who can to embrace those without a family and a home.” 

Directed by Tahaab Rais and produced by Prodigious, the film, titled “Falling in Love,” has garnered over ten million views on YouTube since being uploaded on Nov. 30, with the Arabic version of the film receiving an additional 5.6 million views in the same time frame. 

But along with the film—which Home Centre called the “face of the initiative” in a statement—the retailer’s campaign also revolves around providing resources to Middle Eastern families potentially interested in adoption or fostering. The initiative’s website includes several videos providing insight into the adoption process, including advice from psychologist Pascale Nakhle on how to navigate complicated emotions that can arise before, during and after adopting a child, as well as information about the legal complexities of adoption from legal advisor Hazem Balbaa. 

Additionally, Home Centre is partnering with several influencers to promote the initiative across social media, such as Nakhle herself, who recently spoke with social media news site Lovin Dubai about the initiative. Other influencers are also lined up to share content surrounding the campaign in the coming weeks, such as @MyGhaliaAndMe, a single mother who adopted a child two years ago. 

Because adoption and fostering are still viewed as a cultural taboo in the Middle East, Home Centre is the first brand to focus a campaign on the topic. The retailer has a history of using campaigns to tackle social stigmas—in 2020, Home Centre launched a Father’s Day initiative that sought to celebrate single mothers in the Middle East, who frequently encounter societal disapproval for raising a child without a father. 

“Every child deserves a childhood,” the website for “The Homecoming” initiative reads. "Every childhood deserves a home."