Kids Teach Parents a Sweet Lesson in This Mars Campaign

The premise of this video from Mars Food Australia is simple: The brand asked ordinary Australians whom they would choose if they could have dinner with anyone alive or dead. The results were predictable. Nelson Mandela's name came up, and inevitably Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber did too. Since it's Australia, Kylie Minogue was on the list.

After talking to adults, Mars and Clemenger BBDO Sydney asked their kids the same question. That's the interesting part -- and probably the reason the video has had about 14 million views, mostly on Facebook. The brand says the responses were unscripted.

The campaign, "Let's Make Dinnertime Matter," was for MasterFoods, Mars' brand name locally for products like spices, sauces and recipe bases. There was also a research report into what matters to Australians about dinners; a survey found that people care more about emotional connections than the food or setting. About 38% of people said avoiding arguments was the most important part of a home-cooked meal, more than eating nutritious food, at 33%.