Kroger's New Holiday Ad Has Us Calling Loved Ones In Tears

The holiday season is an exciting time, often filled with colder weather, baking days, and movies that help to remind everyone what the season is about. However, along with the holiday magic comes a pressure to balance gift-giving, family traditions, and making new memories each year. It can start to feel overwhelming, which is why certain holiday ads help to put everything back into perspective. While seasonal advertisements are often thoughtful and sweet, some have a way of striking a particular emotional chord in us, and Kroger's new holiday ad is no exception.

Set to "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran, Kroger's ad begins with a couple sitting on a park bench. As they notice a young family nearby, a gust of wind brings them a flyer for a student exchange program. Before you know it, they're decorating their house with the colors of the Mexican flag and welcoming a young traveler into their home. To combat the girl's initial homesickness, the couple cooks an authentic pozole in an effort to bring their visitor's culture into their home through food. Photographs document their fun times together before eventually saying goodbye.

Soon, the couple's refrigerator is filled with photographs of several exchange students throughout the years, signifying how welcoming and loving their home has been. Then we see the aged couple alone on Christmas. There's a moment of sadness until a knock at the door reveals all the foreign exchange students, there to cook and celebrate with them.

The video's title on the Kroger ad states that "Magic happens when we bring new traditions to the table." It's a simple message of acceptance and inclusion that left many viewers in tears. People may fear growing older and losing those magical memories made during previous holiday seasons. However, this ad was a great reminder that family can be built in many different ways, even as we grow older.

Viewers took to the YouTube comment section to praise the Kroger ad, posting things like, "Favorite time of the year seeing these banger commercials," and "Why am I sobbing[?]" One commenter even shared their own personal experience as a host of foreign exchange students, writing, "These 'kids' are all grown with children of their own, but they are still my family. This commercial was written for me. Now, if only they'd all show up on my doorstep..."

Many people related to this commenter's sentiment, with viewers now feeling the need to reconnect with loved ones and embrace that holiday cheer. On TikTok, users credited Kroger's marketing team for their tears and people shared their personal connection to the ad's recognition of fertility struggles. Kroger's ad not only acknowledged this painful journey but showed that the couple's welcoming home allowed the foreign exchange students to become like children to them.