Sarah McLachlan discusses her iconic, emotional ASPCA commercial.
Sarah McLachlan’s Ad: Heart-breaking truth!
Remember that ad? That commercial in which an emotional song plays and sad animals are seen on the screen? And then Sarah McLachlan comes, speaks in a very calm, serious voice.
Yes, I am talking about that ASPCA commercial, which brought tears to God knows how many eyes!
When the song became painful
Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel’ song is so emotional in itself, isn’t it? And when this song was paired with visuals of distressed animals in an ad for ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the whole thing went haywire.
But do you know? Even Sarah McLachlan herself couldn’t watch this ad!
She told “Rolling Stone” that it was “painful”, she “couldn’t watch it.”
She also had this “Oh, God is awful” feeling. But you must admit one thing, she herself said, “But it worked like a hot damn!”
How did the ad become so popular?
So how did this ad become? Sarah told that one of her friends who is on the ASPCA board, asked her if she would like to do this commercially.
Since she herself loves animals a lot, she thought this could be a “cool thing”. And honestly, it turned out to be even more ‘amazing’ than ‘cool’!
In just one year, this ad earned more than $30 million (approx 250 crore INR)!
A new identity
This ad introduced Sarah McLachlan to a completely new group of fans. Imagine, she says, that she would stand in a Target store, and a small auntie type would come and ask, “Are you that dog lady? I love that song!” Every day!
Meaning, this ad became a part of her identity. When she got a chance to make fun of this ad (like in Audi and Super Bowl’s Busch Light commercial), she was very happy.
She said that actually she is a “super-happy, super-optimistic person”, but in this ad she was shown as a “sort of quiet, sad person”.
New Album, New Things
Now, Sarah McLachlan is bringing out her new album, ‘Better Broken’, after a new year.
In this album, she has talked about two breakups, tension in her relationship with her elder daughter and topics like ‘war on women’.
So it will be interesting to see how her new music is.
But one thing is for sure, the “dog lady” title from the ASPCA ad will probably stay with her forever!