The three-minute video below is "Giving", a 2013 commercial for the Thai mobile network TrueMove H. It contains almost no dialogue and never shows a phone. Instead it tells the story of a small food-stall owner who helps a boy caught stealing medicine for his sick mother, and how that act of kindness returns to him thirty years later. Within days of its release it had been watched millions of times, and it is still one of the best-known examples of Thailand's famously emotional advertising.
The copy embedded here was uploaded by a fan under the title "Heartwarming Thai Commercial - Thai Good Stories"; the original was posted on TrueMove H's own YouTube channel.
What happens in the film
A boy is caught taking medicine from a pharmacy and is scolded by the pharmacist. The owner of a nearby food stall steps in, asks what is wrong, and learns that the medicine is for the boy's ill mother. He pays for it and sends the boy home with the medicine and a bag of vegetable soup, expecting nothing in return. The still at the top of this page, from the film, shows him at his stall with a dog at his feet: a man who shares what little he has.
The story then jumps forward thirty years. The stall owner is now older, and the kindness he showed that day comes back to him at the moment he needs it most. The ending is best seen rather than summarised, but it is the reason so many viewers say the film made them cry. The campaign's theme is "Giving is the best communication."
Who made it and how far it travelled
"Giving" was created by the agency Ogilvy & Mather Thailand for TrueMove H, part of the True Corporation group. It was directed by Thanonchai Sornsriwichai and produced by the production company Phenomena, with Panu Meepaibul as creative director and copywriter.
TrueMove H posted the film on YouTube on 11 September 2013. The Bangkok Post reported more than 5.3 million views within days, and US outlets including Fox 13 noted that it passed a million views in its first three days. Coverage spread through Gawker, the Daily Mail and countless Facebook shares, and an LMU Asia Media column summed up the reaction with the headline "Give this director an Oscar".
The campaign also worked as advertising. According to a WARC case study, it became the 12th most shared ad on YouTube worldwide, helped drive a 40% quarterly rise in TrueMove H's 3G subscribers, and lifted the brand to second place in the Thai mobile market for the first time.
Why Thai ads make people cry
"Giving" belongs to a style sometimes nicknamed "sadvertising": long-form commercials that tell a complete story, often about family, poverty or sacrifice, and mention the product only at the very end. Other well-known examples include Thai Life Insurance's "Unsung Hero", also made by Ogilvy & Mather, about a man whose small daily kindnesses earn him nothing material, and a series of Mother's Day films for Tesco Lotus.
Thai advertising professionals interviewed by the Bangkok Post linked the trend to a culture that is comfortable expressing emotion openly. Not everyone is a fan: film lecturer Prawit Taeng-Aksorn warned that "emotions sell and sometimes it's crossing the appropriate line". It is worth remembering that "Giving" is a well-crafted marketing film, not a true story. Its message can still be real even though its purpose was to sell a phone network.
The idea behind the story: paying kindness forward
The film dramatises an old idea usually called "paying it forward": repaying a kindness not to the person who helped you but to someone else in need. Benjamin Franklin described lending money on those terms in a 1784 letter, hoping the loan would pass through many hands. The phrase itself may come from Lily Hardy Hammond's 1916 book In the Garden of Delight, and it was popularised by Catherine Ryan Hyde's 1999 novel Pay It Forward and its 2000 film adaptation.
Researchers have tested the idea in experiments. People who receive generous treatment are more likely to treat a stranger generously, and some studies suggest this happens partly because people imitate the behaviour they have just experienced. Pay-it-forward offers have even been trialled in public health, for example to encourage people to take up free medical testing.
What to take from it
The film's stall owner does nothing heroic. He notices that a child is in trouble, asks a question before judging, and spends a small amount of money and time. Those are the parts anyone can copy:
- Ask before you assume. The boy is first treated as a thief; one question reveals a sick mother.
- Help with what you have. The gift is a few packets of medicine and a bag of soup, not a fortune.
- Do not keep score. The whole point of the story is that he expected nothing back.
Watching an emotional video is easy; the useful step is turning the feeling into one specific action, such as checking on a neighbour, covering a small cost for someone who is struggling, or simply listening properly.
Sources: Bangkok Post: Tear-jerker advert stirs emotions worldwide; Ads of the World: TrueMove "Giving" credits; WARC: TrueMove H case study; iTWire; Fox 13; LMU Asia Media; Bangkok Post: Selling a sad story; Wikipedia: Pay it forward. Film © TrueMove H / Ogilvy & Mather Thailand.
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