ASIA-PACIFIC, September 16, 2013 – Thai mobile service provider True Move’s new commercial, "Giving," has already reached over 3 million views not even a week after its posting.
The story is simple: a man gives a poor little boy some painkillers and soup for his ailing mother. Thirty years later, that man falls ill and racks up a hospital bill of over 700,000 baht.
The man’s daughter struggles to pay and even tries to sell their home. One day, however, she receives a new bill for zero baht. The bill goes on to read: "all expenses paid thirty years ago, with three packs of painkillers and a bag of veggie soup." The daughter realizes that her father’s doctor had been the boy her father had helped all those years ago.
The ad then ends with the line "giving is the best communication."
The video has been shared many times over, with most viewers singing praises for the heartwarming video. Some, however, were not so taken with the dramatic video.
For instance, in an opinion article on the Chiang Mai City News, James Austin Farrell questioned whether True Move practiced what they preached, pointing out that the company’s CEO is the richest man in Thailand and Southeast Asia according to Forbes.
"Nonetheless the lugubrious ad has seemingly hoodwinked millions of viewers in the west who have not seen through the brazen hypocrisy of True Move and its owners," Farrell said.
