American Greetings, a greeting card company, came up with a unique idea to celebrate motherhood during Mother's Day by creating a video where candidates are interviewed for the world's toughest job.
The greeting card company enlisted the help of Mullen advertising agency for its Mother's Day campaign, following which the ad agency put up a fake job opening for the position of Director of Operations.
About 24 candidates enquired about the job and their interview became the subject of the advertisement.
A paid actor took up the role of the interviewer, who explained to the candidates that the role requires them to work continuously throughout the year without any breaks. The pay is zilch and the workload will increase during holidays such as Christmas and New Year. As for qualification, the candidate should be able to multitask and should be equipped with crisis management skills.
While some laughed at the requirements, others noted that the role was inhumane and insane. But when the interviewer revealed that he was outlining the tasks of motherhood, many turned emotional.
So how did the advertising agency come up with the idea for the ad?
"One of our writers went home to Michigan to be with her family," Jon Ruby, vice president and creative director at Mullen, said, according to Yahoo. "She spent quite a bit of time with her brother and sister-in-law. She does not have kids, but they do. In watching them, she saw how they interacted with the kids. Her sister-in-law was on her feet 24/7 and never stopped working.
"When she came back, she said being a mom is really the world's toughest job."
The video was posted online on April 14, and since then it has received more than 14 million views.
Soon, Bud Light came out with a dad-related parody of the advertisement where job applicants are interviewed for the "director of whatever" post. "You are going to need a sense of humor, just not a very funny one," the interviewer explains. "How do you feel about outdated pop culture references?"
"Can you believe we already have millions of people filling this role? And they're called dads."
The clip ends with a suggestion to "grab a beer with your dad."
(ED:VS)
