Kleenex alert: The new Publix Thanksgiving ad is out. Watch it here.

Gary T. Mills, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
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It’s Thanksgiving, so it’s time for another tissue-worthy commercial from Publix.

And Publix doesn’t disappoint.

In its new ad “A recipe for what matters,” we see a mother and a daughter, both in separate shots, both busy preparing a holiday meal, when a phone call unites the pair.

“Hi, honey!”

“Hey, Mom.”

“How’s it going?”

“Did Nana’s stuffing have rosemary or thyme?”

It’s an ordinary phone call that’s anything but an ordinary phone call.

Publix packs a lot more than subtle product placement and mouth-watering food into the 60-second commercial.

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From 2018: The new Publix Thanksgiving ad is out, so grab a Kleenex

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A scene from Publix's new Thanksgiving ad, "A recipe for what matter."
A scene from Publix's new Thanksgiving ad, "A recipe for what matter."

Watch it closely and you’ll see a table full of framed family photos and pictures fastened to the side of a refrigerator. Then you see a mother’s face light up as her smartphone lights up with a call from an adult child away from home during the holidays.

Publix Thanksgiving ad includes a twist

After going over Nana’s stuffing recipe (rosemary and thyme), the two move on to other topics, including a new hairstyle shared via Facetime that gets her mother’s approval.

A subsequent phone call confirms the stuffing recipe’s ideal oven temperature setting (350).

Then we see each scooping out their homemade stuffing into a dish.

“How’s everything going there?”

“It’s a little quiet, you know? Just me and Dad. We miss you.”

Cut to more cooking, some reminiscing, and finally a quick goodbye as friends gather in the daughter’s dining room.

Sitting down for their quiet holiday meal at the table in front of those family photos we saw before, Dad moves the ad’s plot along: “Hasn’t she made that stuffing like a million times before?”

There it is. (Cue the lump in your throat.)

After a subtle nod from Mom, the commercial cuts back to the daughter who, with a small smile, touches the well-worn recipe card for Nana’s Herbed Cornbread Stuffing.

Now grab a Kleenex. (And then call your parents.)

The commercial continues Publix’s heartstrings-tugging ads of past, including “Catching Up” from Thanksgiving 2018 and last Christmas’s “The Attic.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Publix Thanksgiving ad 2022: Grab a tissue and watch