A whiskey ad is making everyone cry - and for good reason!
Earlier this month, Spanish company J&B Scotch Whiskey released their holiday commercial and it's a surprisingly moving storyline about the acceptance of a transgender family member.
The three-minute commercial opens with a grandfather stealing his wife's lipstick to secretly apply it on himself in the bathroom. He slowly begins experimenting with makeup, buying eye shadow at the grocery store and taking brow tips from bus billboards until he's happy with his own look. He continues to hide it from his family.
When his extended family arrives on a holiday, we meet Alvaro, the man's visibly uncomfortable 26-year-old grandchild. The grandfather pulls them into the bathroom and applies all of the makeup tricks he's learned on Alvaro - and they look absolutely beautiful as the two gaze into the mirror together. The grandfather then reintroduces their grandchild to the family as Ana. In the end, the family toasts over some whiskey. "Magic is not only at Christmas," the screen reads in Spanish. "It is also in us."
As of this writing, the commercial has over 2 million views on YouTube. The official description shares the hope from J&B Spain that the commercial can help "us reflect, so that on these dates there can always be room at the table for acceptance, respect and, above all, celebration." It's also gone viral on Twitter and TikTok.
The love and acceptance shown for Ana is enough to make any LGBTQ+ person shed a tear. "I lost it when I saw this," one comment reads. "It completely wrecked me. I want a family like that."
Ella Di Amore, the transgender actor who played Ana, spoke about the importance of the commercial:
"It is a story with which I feel quite identified. In my day to day, I do not try to be a reference for anything or anyone, but I do everything in my power to defend LGTBIQ+ rights and I know that through Ana's character I can help many people by making visible a reality that is quite common."
Watch the moving commercial below.
RELATED | A Romantic Gay Drama Is Headed to Theaters in Time for Valentine's Day