Touching Organ Donation PSA, ‘The Man And The Dog,’ Will Leave You In Tears


A new organ donation PSA, titled “The Man and the Dog,” shows the bond between an old man and his dog and reveals why dogs are called man’s best friend. The 90-second ad, designed to raise public awareness about organ donation, will leave you in tears.

Uploaded to YouTube on May 20, the video has gone viral with more than 2.7 million views.

Little Black Book Online reports that Central Film’s award-winning director Rodrigo Garcia Saiz, teamed up with DDB — the firm that created the 2014 Christmas ad, “Monty the Penguin” — to create the new PSA for Argentina Foundation for Liver Transplants.

The video shows an ordinary day in the life of two best friends, a man and his dog.

The dog greets his human friend in the morning with a big wet kiss. They go for an early morning walk during which the loyal dog waits for his friend outside a cafe while he drinks coffee and chats with friends inside.

The Man And The Dog
The Dog Waits For His Friend Outside A Cafe

The dog also waits patiently outside for his friend after he entered a shop to buy some pastries. The old man gives his canine friend a treat after he leaves the shop, pats him on the head, and the two walk back home together.

But later in the evening as the man watches TV with his dog, he falls ill and is taken to the hospital in an ambulance. His loyal dog runs behind the ambulance all the way to the hospital.

When the dog attempts to walk through the hospital doors to be with his best friend, hospital staff shoo him away.

The poor dog is forced to wait dejectedly outside the hospital building. He refuses to leave when night falls and even when it rains.

The Man And The Dog
The Dog Waits Dejectedly After His Human Friend Was Taken Into The Hospital Building

Much later, the hospital doors open and a smiling woman on a wheelchair is shown leaving the hospital. As soon as the dog sees the woman, he becomes alert and rushes to greet her. The woman smiles and pats the dog affectionately. But she didn’t know why the dog was happy to see her.

The ad does not say it, but we can infer that the dog’s old friend had died and that the young woman’s life had been saved by an organ donated by the old man. The dog was apparently able to “smell” his old friend in the woman who was carrying an organ donated by the man.

The Man And The Dog
The Greets A Woman Who Received An Organ From His Old Friend

The PSA ends abruptly with the message, “Become an organ donor.”

According to the Huffington Post, the PSA was inspired by the equally touching story of the Japanese dog Hachiko, who waited every day at a station for several years for his master who had died.

More than 28,000 people receive donated organs every year in the U.S. In the U.K., more than 4,500 people received organs from 2,400 donors living and deceased between April, 2013, and March, 2014.

[Images: YouTube / DDB Worldwide]

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