I didn’t think I’d ever like the ads that can pop up before a YouTube video starts or at the end of a clip. You can skip some of them, but not all. I thought they would be pointless and annoying, but I’ve found several that I don’t mind all that much.
The first ad that didn’t bother me was done by 5-hour energy drink. I don’t drink them, but my younger brother sometimes does in order to get through a long day after working a night shift. (He can be far more adventurous than I.) The ad opened with a screen mentioning that there are often everyday heroes that are overlooked. These heroes aren’t rescue workers or doctors or policemen or firemen. They aren’t heroes in the fact that they have a job that not many people can or would do. They are heroes because of something else, something that they’re doing that isn’t part of their lively-hood.
The ad is actually referred to as a webisode that is only a few minutes long that gives a quick sketch of what the person does and, sometimes, why they are doing it before giving them a gift at the end. The gift is always the same, but is usually used by the receiver to further whatever their cause is. The cause that I remember the most is an elderly gentleman who, ever since retirement has been purchasing bread from Costcos and Sam’s Clubs and then donating it to soup kitchens, retirement homes and homeless shelters. It’s a 100 mile trip to everywhere that he donates. He pays for it all himself and though he has strained his back doing all of the lifting continues to do it and is quoted in the show that he ‘will hire help when he can’t physically do it anymore.’ He’s called ‘The Bread Man.’
There are other ads that catch my attention, but I look forward to this little webisode series every week. They only post a new one each week and not always on the same day.
I didn’t know if I wanted YouTube to start putting ads on their clips like the old ad commercials I hated as a child, but if this is the kind of ad that is going to go up, then I say bring it on.
Breathing In 