Ford "Familien - Part 3" (2016) 5:25 (Denmark)

In Part 1 of Ford's Familien, we are introduced to a family who is getting a divorce. The youngest fo the family refuses to get out of the car until they get back together. His sister comes along and comforts him with a blanket and a bedtime story in the car. In Part 2 the dad picks them up from school after not seeing them all week. They don't want to talk to him and they are fighting with each other.
In part thee of this heartwarming tale, Fiona, the daughter, has left without telling anyone. Both separated parents go looking for her and end up at the school. She ran away because her boyfriend broke up with her.
When the ex-wife says to the ex-husband "You didn't have to come," and the ex husband responds "I know," I just about lost my shit. They've been divorced for like a half a minute. What self-respecting father who loves his kids wouldn't go looking for his daughter?
They try bravely to wrap this moody piece of sadness with some heartwarming bow but it's just really super moody and depressing.
And ending it with the "Everything will be okay," line as the newly reunited separated family sits there in the school yard, is the stuff of pure Hollywood imagination, too.
This is why I question when brands go down this "real" road at all, especially with this subject matter. It's like doing a spot around someone's parent dying. People who go through ordeals don't appreciate brands who wave them in their faces in a way to be "relatable." I don't want Ford to relate to my parent's death or best friend's divorce. They don't have that right. And while this at least treads lightly, it can turn into a slippery slope that becomes exploitive. Ask yourself if Nationwide's Super Bowl spot starring a dead kid was the way to go.
More importantly, this puts Ford in a bad light because it has zero to do with the car. Ford is a car brand. It can not really facilitate in a divorce. And while I can appreciate the buried metaphor that underlines the moving forward aspect of the tagline, the car won't last long enough to heal those wounds.
If they really wanted to do a "real" divorce spot, they would have had the wife and husband argue for two hours in front of their lawyers about who gets the car.

Client: Ford Denmark
Instruktør: Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen
Skuespiller: Laura Bach, Peder Pedersen, Bebiane Ivalo Kreutzmann, Pelle Falk Krusbæk og Noah Nielsen
Bureau: Very
Produktionsselskab: New Land
Seeding Partner: Be On