What TV commercial is this?

September 1, 2005 3:39 PM

AdFilter: Can anyone identify this TV ad that ran a few years back? A young man is packing up his car for college and his father is there saying goodbye. Very emotional. The mother is noticeably absent. The father goes inside to find the mother--not sad as expected--excitedly measuring up the son's room for a new hot tub that she's going to install. Can anyone tell me the company and/or a place where I could download the ad? Thanks.
posted by thejimp to media & arts (7 comments total)

I maybe wrong, but I thought the ad had something to do with a Disneyland Vacation. Once the child was off to college the parents could now play!
posted by Mckoan1 at 3:48 PM on September 1, 2005

It was an ad for Staples, an office supply firm. They had a series of similar advertisements following the same formula: child goes off to college, parents act depressed until child leaves frame, parents start celebrating. I don't know where to download ads though.
posted by Darke at 4:04 PM on September 1, 2005

Yep, Staples. I remember that ad too.
posted by SweetJesus at 4:27 PM on September 1, 2005

Try adcritic.com to see if they have it. Most of their stuff is pretty recent, though.
posted by Brian James at 5:09 PM on September 1, 2005

There was an ad like this in Australia as well, though the father was wandering around the room, talking to his kid.

Dad - `End of an era'
Kid - `Yeah'
Dad - `Sad to see you go' (slyly tape measures a wall while the kid isn't looking'.

It's always nice to know that all the ads in Australia have been copied from ads shown elsewhere.
posted by tomble at 7:06 PM on September 1, 2005

Heh.... If anyone can find a link, I would like to send it to my son who just started his freshman year.... heheheh.
posted by Doohickie at 1:45 AM on September 2, 2005

There was one for some carpeting company on last night - parents took over their child's room as the child left for college, turned it into a music studio, a bird-watching room, and a bunch of other things, before moving all the kid's original furniture back in and saying "oh, just in case". Very cute.
posted by MeetMegan at 1:52 PM on September 2, 2005