--- title: Edeka Holiday Ad description: Edeka the German supermarket releases an emotional ad showing a father trying to get kids to come home for the holidays. canonical: https://time.com/4130808/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-01T17:19:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:27:15.039Z og:title: Edeka Holiday Ad og:description: Edeka the German supermarket releases an emotional ad showing a father trying to get kids to come home for the holidays. og:url: https://time.com/4130808/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f89f50b1f47982/6988733acf40a882dbc40e02/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad.png?branch=production&width=851&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 851 og:image:height: 479 og:image:alt: edeka-holiday-christmas-ad og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Edeka Holiday Ad twitter:description: Edeka the German supermarket releases an emotional ad showing a father trying to get kids to come home for the holidays. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f89f50b1f47982/6988733acf40a882dbc40e02/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad.png?branch=production&width=851&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This German Holiday Ad Is the Definition of an Emotional Rollercoaster  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Dec 1, 2015 5:19 PM UTC   by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Dec 1, 2015 5:19 PM UTC A German supermarket [released](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-0kYhqoRo) a tearjerker ad that shows an elderly man faking his own death so all of his kids will come home for the holidays. The spot starts off with his daughter and grandchildren calling to say they won’t be able to visit him this year and then proceeds to show each of his other kids’ reactions to hearing that he has passed away. When they all go to his house, he appears, saying “How else could I have brought you all together? Mmh?” It’s an ad that’s guaranteed to make you feel all the feelings—confusion, anger, sadness and more. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4130808/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4130808/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad/"},"headline":"This German Holiday Ad Is the Definition of an Emotional Rollercoaster","datePublished":"2015-12-01T17:19:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:15.039Z","description":"Have some tissues handy","url":"https://time.com/4130808/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Business topic","Holidays"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f89f50b1f47982/6988733acf40a882dbc40e02/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f89f50b1f47982/6988733acf40a882dbc40e02/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"edeka-holiday-christmas-ad","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4130808/edeka-holiday-christmas-ad/","name":"This German Holiday Ad Is the Definition of an Emotional Rollercoaster"}}]}] ```