Widowed grandpa asks Google for help to remember his late wife in emotional Super Bowl ad

Super Bowl ads can trigger a mix of emotions from its viewers – they can either make people laugh or cry. And in the case of Google’s ad for this year titled “Loretta”, it definitely did the latter.

The Google Super Bowl ad was about an elderly man who used the help of Google Assistant to keep the memory of his late wife alive. It began with the words “how to not forget” typed in a Google search bar.

The man then asked the assistant to recall photos of his time with Loretta, mentioning the things that he wanted to remember about her so that it would jot down these memories for him.

“Loretta used to hum showtunes” and “Loretta’s favorite flowers were tulips” were just some of the things that he wanted to remember about his wife.

On Sunday, the viewers of this year’s game watched the 90-second commercial, and many admitted that the tech giant’s Super Bowl ad hit them right in the feels.

According to Lorraine Twohill, Google’s Chief Marketing Officer, “Loretta” was based on a real person – a Google employee’s 85-year-old grandfather. In fact, the voice heard throughout “Loretta” is that of the grandpa.

“At 85, to an audience of millions, he’ll be making his film debut. We couldn’t be happier for him,” Twohill wrote in a blog about the commercial.

“The ad reflects our goal to build products that help people in their daily lives, in both big and small ways. Sometimes that’s finding a location, sometimes it’s playing a favorite movie, and sometimes it’s using the Google Assistant to remember meaningful details,” Twohill explained.

She also mentioned that the commercial had a few things in common with “Parisian Love”, an ad they produced 10 years ago about an American man finding love in Paris and how he used Google search to make it possible.

“Both are simple love stories told through the lens of our products,” Twohill said.

“Loretta” was a real tearjerker, and people on Twitter weren’t afraid to admit it. A flood of tweets about the touching ad dominated social media on Sunday.

Even TODAY’s Hoda Kotb revealed that she was touched by the story.

“That @Google commercial melted me #loretta,” the host tweeted.

“I was all hyped up until that google commercial came up #SuperBowl,” another user said.

“Loretta” was created and edited without the help of an external advertising agency.

Watch the video below to know why this Google Super Bowl ad is making everybody emotional.