Uncle Ben's "Special Guests" (2020) :45 (USA)

Yet another COVID-19 brand ad, brought to you by Uncle Ben's. Shot safely from a distance, it features a real family. A dad and daughter milling about the house, trying to stay fit and keep each other's spirits up and make dinner until its time to share that special meal with everyone...on their screens.

I'm not sure who everyone is. There's mom, who I assume is the dad's mom, and grandma. Is his wife not in the picture any more? Sheesh you'd think they would have made an exception since they are getting paid and every dollar counts when a gazillion million people are now unemployed like moi.

 Like all  COVIDvertising™ spots I've seen so far, this one is inadvertently maudlin and unavoidably rushed in the edit. The two best things about it are the daughter's genuine happiness at being able to see her grandma, the end line:
We don't need to be together to be close.

Speaking of, did you see the Uncle Ben's Ready rice pack shot at the beginning? 

For those who don't know, Ready Rice is microwaveable rice. You'd think with all the time on his hands, dad would learn how to cook real rice since he can now spare a half hour. Then again, maybe that's all they had left at the Safeway.

I was going to say I didn't need the further call to action at the end to look up recipes, but I wouldn't know what to do with microwaveable rice. Maybe it is helpful after all.. 

Client: Uncle Ben's

Agency: Energy BBDO