Entertainment

This Powerade Commercial Is Powerful

by Kristie Rohwedder

If you'd told me I’d get choked up over a commercial for a sports drink one day, I would not have believed you. Not for a second. But I would’ve been wrong to doubt. Because my eyes teared right on up the first time I saw that new Powerade TV spot. In the ad, a young boy rides his bike through the South Side of Chicago. His destination: The United Center. When he walks through the doors of the stadium where the Chicago Bulls call home, he is NBA superstar Derrick Rose. Fifteen seconds into the ad, a voiceover from Tupac Shakur begins. The narration featured in the Derrick Rose Powerade commercial is an excerpt from Tupac's poem “The Rose That Grew From the Concrete”:

You see, you wouldn’t ask why The rose that grew from the concrete had damaged petalsOn the contrary, we would all celebrate its tenacityWe would all love its will to reach the sunWell, we are the rosesThis is the concrete These are my damaged petalsDon’t ask me whyAsk me how

Between the poem, the overall message, and my being a Bulls fan, my crying at this ad was inevitable:

Image: PoweradeUS/YouTube