Why you always have to cry a little at a Christmas commercial

I cry at Christmas commercials. Loudly and ugly. What am I saying? Even Frekkel, Freddie, Frummel, and wooden Fritsie from the Staatsloterij got me crying. Nothing strange about it, research shows; we are actually supposed to cry at Christmas commercials.

If a complete marketing team spends the whole year figuring out what makes me cry, then I’ll gladly give them that tear. But what are they so cleverly tapping into? It has everything to do with the hormones you produce when social interactions are involved. They know exactly which sensitive commercial button to press at British John Lewis to bring on the waterworks. This year, I even got a lump in my throat from a middle-aged man on a skateboard, which says something.

I mostly cried my eyes out at the beautiful ballerina in Amazon's 2020 ad, who performed her canceled show in the middle of the street in the snow (what timing too) for her neighbors. Just looked back at it and I had to cry again. But this year's ad is also touching enough to bring a tear.

As soon as the Christmas commercial starts, a small gland (literally and figuratively) in your brain, the pituitary gland, produces the stress hormone cortisol. This makes us pay attention. Then the empathy hormone oxytocin comes into play and voilà: the floodgates open. The empathy makes us feel connected and our brains don’t see the difference between fiction and reality.

Psychologie Magazine states that there is even a real tearjerker formula that commercials adhere to. You start with the context, then comes the rising action, followed by the climax. Followed by the falling action, in which everything unfolds. Finally, you get acceptance, relief, or a catastrophe. In the case of Christmas commercials, I would leave out the last one for a nice Christmas.

Well, then you also know that your tears are a combination of clever advertisers and a neurological switch that activates as soon as the commercial starts. Tissues, anyone?