Microsoft commercials are often seen as boring and silly (Scroogled, anyone?) but its "Empowering" ad during the Super Bowl on Sunday Feb. 2, featuring Steve Gleason, moved hearts and showed the world how technology can give hope to the hopeless.
For those who might know, Gleason is a former NFL player who played as safety for the New Orleans Saints. He was famous for a play that led to touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 2006, a first at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The "Rebirth" statue erected in the grounds of stadium was to his liking, a symbol of the city rising after a calamity.
Gleason only played seven years in the big league and is now struggling with ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrigs disease, named after the great Yankees hall-of-famer who battled with the disease in 1939. It is a debilitating disease with no cure. Someone with ALS is either wheelchair bound or bed bound and as nerves and muscles are affected, the individual is essentially a vegetable. Death is often estimated to occur after five years after being stricken by the disease but there are rare cases such as that of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking.
The former NFL player explains how technology helps people in Microsoft's "Empowering" ad.
"What is technology? What can it do? How far can we go?" he asks. "Technology has the power to unite us. Inspires us."
"It has given voice to the voiceless," Gleason continues. This is just but one powerful line among others that made the Super Bowl ad hit the spot.
The one-minute ad was not centered on products but showed how technology changes lives. It highlighted how technology is used to develop prosthetic limbs that help people walk, software that help the blind paint, technologies that help innovate medical procedures, connect families located in different corners of the globe, and take humans to places only imaginable before.
As of reporting, the "Empowering" advertisement has more than 560,000 views on YouTube.
It has also received praises on the social media world.
"Microsoft's first Super Bowl commercial. A heartwarming celebration of human empowerment through technology," tweeted Marcin Skok
Others saw the ad and proved that it was more than promoting products.
"#Microsoft thanks for giving ALS a voice #Empowering." tweeted Kaylee Eddy.
As most headlines say, it can make tears fall.
"Tearjerking Ad but so #empowering! Thank U @Microsoft. #ALS steals ur arms, legs, breath but not your brain or voice. Ur technology rocks!" posted Michele Dupree.
Aside from the "Empowering" ad, Microsoft also released a longer ad about Gleason titled "Steve Gleason: No White Flags." There are also other individual ads featuring people afflicted with physical challenges and diseases seeing technology as part of their cure. You can see these ads after the "Empowering" clip below.
