A French supermarket chain, Intermarché, has a Christmas advert that became very popular on social media. People talk about it because it is emotional and because it was made without artificial intelligence. The story follows a white wolf who is lonely and has trouble making friends. At first, the other animals are afraid of him because wolves usually eat animals. But the wolf wants to change. He decides to stop eating animals and becomes vegetarian. He goes into a kitchen and cooks vegetables instead of meat.
When the wolf arrives at a Christmas dinner, the other animals run away. However, they taste his food and their feelings change. The wolf’s recipe touches people and makes many viewers cry. The advert was created by a French animation studio with real artists and actors, not AI. It took six months of work and about 70 people to make it.
The advert also impressed experts in the UK. It reached the top of a ranking for best Christmas advert and got more than 30 million views in only a few days. A classic French song by Claude François also became popular again.
Vocabulary:
• advert / ad (noun): a short video to sell a product or show a brand
• go viral (verb phrase): become very popular very fast online
• heartwarming (adj): making you feel happy, moved, or emotional
• tale (noun): a story, often simple or traditional
• feared (adj): causing fear; people are afraid of it
• loner (noun): someone who is often alone
• struggle (verb): have difficulty doing something
• recipe (noun): instructions for cooking a dish
• artificial intelligence / AI (noun): computer technology that can create or imitate human work
• craftsperson (noun): a skilled worker who makes something carefully
• expert (noun): a person who knows a lot about a topic
• ranking (noun): a list that orders best to worst
• viewed (verb): watched (a video)
• release (noun): the moment something is published or made available
• hit (noun): something very popular (song, video, etc.)