MANILA – A child is often a reflection of how he/she was raised by his/her mother. It’s a near universal truth whatever culture or country you may belong to. For many mothers, one of the things they try to remind their children is to always stay clean. Blame it on the old tenet that “cleanliness is next to godliness” or perhaps blame it on a fear of being judged by other parents for not being able to keep their kids clean. It cannot be denied that this mindset is still strong among mothers today.
It’s exactly that kind of thinking that Breeze Philippines and Dentsu JaymeSyfu addressed head on in a film that has, to date, been viewed 1.4 million times on YouTube and 7.3 million times on Facebook. Dubbed “The Good Experiment,” the video begins with a scene at dismissal time in an elementary school. As different moms pick up their children from school, they are all shocked to find their kids with different levels of dirt on their clothes and bodies.
When each mom voices their surprise and disappointment at the kids for being so dirty, one of the mothers states that she wants her daughter to be clean all the time. That’s when a TV screen shows the moms what their kids were doing to cause so much dirt on their clothes.
An old school gardener is shown falling in mud causing his wheelbarrow and the items inside to tip over. Each child is shown individually offering his/her help to the gardener with hardly a second thought. The mothers then began to realize what their children were doing, leaving them crying as they hugged their little ones.
When the gardener asks one little boy if his mom might get angry at him being dirty, the boy answers that he’ll just be honest with her. The moms are overcome with happiness and pride as they share that what they have been teaching their children about being helpful and having good hearts have resonated in the kids.
As one mom said it, she was so proud of her child, she turned out to be a good mom after all because she has doubted whether she was one in the past. The video ends with a mom and son greeting the old janitor as they head home, and the words “It’s easier to wash away stains than it is to bring up a good child.” flashing on the screen before the Breeze logo as the final image.
A cursory view of the comments section on either the Breeze Philippines Facebook page or the YouTube link shows positive reactions from viewers, most of which have admitted shedding a tear or two as the moms came to their realizations about their children. Clearly, “The Good Experiment” was very good indeed.
