That Jollibee Commercial

I rarely watch TV and when I do, I am usually irritated by inane shows and corny commercials. Yesterday, though, I chanced upon Jollibee's ad - and of course, at the start, I didn't know it was promoting Jollibee.

The image of a mother offering prayers of thanksgiving (Salamat po at...) in a church, with candles and all, as her kid watched was intriguing enough for me to stop and see how the ad would go.

And when the Mom's prayers stopped and she finally told her kid that it was time to go to Jollibee, the kid also said: "Salamat po." And I found that so cute and heartwarming.

The ad is very Filipino - we turn to God in hardships and hopefully, more people return in thanksgiving even as hardships persist. We teach our kids to pray, to call on God - by our words and through our actions too. We are thankful for little things. We appreciate the simple joys in life and every Filipino parent will have to agree that to a kid, an outing to Jollibee beats dining elsewhere, hands down, most of the time.

To Jollibee, more commercials of that sort please. And may the rest of the advertisers follow suit...