Growing up I have seen hundreds (if not thousands) of ads, and most of these ads have not impacted me at all but there is one ad that makes me feel all kinds of emotions. The ad is an Extra Gum commercial, titled “The Story of Sarah and Juan”, that aired back in 2015 and it has stuck with me since then. Extra Gum tweeted about the commercial saying, “A girl. A guy. And a stick of gum. See their love story unwrap.” The commercial starts off by showing a young high school couple on a first date and the girl offers the boy a piece of Extra Gum. The video shows numerous clips of the couple experiencing new adventures with one another and in each clip the boy draws a picture of them together on the inside of the gum wrappers that the girl gives to him. The commercial shows the couple going through many different stages of life: falling in love, moving in together, money problems, long distance, new jobs, and finally a proposal. The video shows how even through change certain things can remain constant, which in this story the constants are Sarah, Juan, and Extra Gum. Throughout the commercial I find myself rooting for the couple and wanting them to make it through all of the hardships portrayed in the video. I am not an emotional person but every time I watch the commercial I cry tears of joy because watching the couple grow and mature together is such a beautiful thing. I don’t know if I would say that the ad has necessarily made me go out and buy Extra Gum, but it definitely has had an impact on what I think about the Extra Gum brand. I think the brand has great ads that can touch viewers, which is hard to do through a product such as gum.
