When a company or organization uses a birthday as a way to emotionally appeal to consumers, you can imagine I’m easily sucked in.

Recently I saw a commercial online that truly embraces the birthday spirit. I enjoyed the video, but watching the behind the scenes video really enhanced my experience. So I decided that, even though I don’t know where this company is providing energy to the masses, I would highlight it’s super-sweet birthday celebrations commercial:

What I hadn’t realized the first time I watched was that they had 100 distinct cakes for each of the people feted in this video. Fun! And I love that they celebrated a dog’s birthday too!

Photo credit: / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

On the accompanying video, they collect insights into what a birthday means from people from the commercial production. A director says, “birthdays really tell you about where you are in your life, where you’ve been and where you’re going.” While others talk about the joy of wishing on the cake candles, appreciating the birthday milestone, and the fun of bringing family and friends together to celebrate you.

It’s the heartfelt enthusiasm throughout that makes me smile — in the commercial and its accompanying behind the scenes. So, while I can be suspicious of businesses that try to sucker us into spending $ with an appeal to birthday bliss, this one I had to share. It’s a dose of birthday sugar without calories to feel guilty about!