Extra chewing gum vibes off Harry Style’s ‘Watermelon Sugar’ in their post-Covid ad dedicated to touching

What’s the first thing you’d do if the entire world got the all-clear tomorrow? If you answered, “shift the face off someone”, then Extra’s new ad is for you.

Beginning with a shot of an empty, leaf-strewn street, the camera slowly pans out to show a tumbleweed (comprising several blue surgical masks) roll by. Uncovering the words “sometime in the not too distant future” as it passes, the action then moves to the inside of nearby apartment where a man awakens to the sound of the radio telling him “this just in – we are back. We can see people again!”. 

Unsurprisingly the good news travels fast and soon the entire city is clued into the fact that normal life can resume. At first hesitant to believe it true, caution quickly gives way to unencumbered glee and people spill out onto the streets in varying states of undress – all rushing to the park… where there are PDAs aplenty. Seriously, there is a lot of kissing going on, so, avert your eyes if such things offend your now-very-sensitive sensibilities. 

Online lovers rise from under mounds of pizza boxes to meet in person for the first time, colleagues reunite in the office lobby, friends envelop each other in giant bear hugs – obvious signs that nature is healing and all set to the dulcet tones of Canada’s finest, with Céline Dion heard booming the lyrics to “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” out in the background. 

Which brings me to another song, more specifically its music video which opens with the line “this video is dedicated to touching”. Clearly drawing inspiration from one of 2020’s most standout pop culture moments, the new Extra ad is not dissimilar to the music video for Harry Styles “Watermelon Sugar”.

Both celebrating human contact and the unmatched joy that only the feeling of embracing another person can bring, if there’s one thing we know to be true it’s that we can’t wait to hug and kiss and touch other people again soon too. 

Feature image via Extra Chewing Gum