"Projecting Life"

7 January 2025

60s

Sea of souls.

Jackie Bao directs a beautiful spot for Tommy's, the charity that knows all too well that "pregnancy loss is a lifetime of loss". Bao and DP Juanjo L Salazar use puddles to show how miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature birth haunts parents wherever they go, whatever the weather. As this 60" commercial demonstrates, rainy days can often hit hardest.

Children who dance and run in welly boots and raincoats are reflected in the puddles in a local park, but these mirror images have no flesh-and-blood counterparts. They are water spirits, if you will—bittersweet reminders of those who never got a chance to play in the rain. Clever use of the space between puddles enhances the effect.

The charity should be delighted with what Bao and her crew have delivered, but it would be even more delighted to reduce the number of adults affected in baby loss in the UK. Let's hope the research carried out in 2025 takes it closer to that goal.

UK

Charities