For kids who grew up in Queens, (home to the most diverse neighborhoods in the world according to wikipedia) there was only one unanimous/shared/communal experience: the preroll at College Point Multiplex Cinemas. For two minutes, prior to any thriller, rom-com, action played a message from The Jimmy Fund and The Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
In two minutes, Cronin&Co. and the Jimmy Fund told a better story than the five trailers and the movie to follow. Fifteen years and I still remember the visage of spray paint on the steel beams of a children’s hospital mid-construction. Fifteen years and I remember the embattled, worn yet, tender voices of steel workers talking, “A few bucks from this guy, a few bucks from that guy” as they spray peppered names of the onlooking cherub faces of kids suffering from cancer in the building across the street–anchoring an absolute power narrative.
Fifteen years ago, and those 120 seconds define the quintessential experience and perception of American charity. Blue-collar guys donating a dollar here, a dollar there to help a cause they were irreconcilably linked through a transformational experience. That’s where “Strong As Iron” helped typify American charity canon. 15 years later, it’s hard to find another broadcast spot as emotionally stirring and empathy evoking as this ad for the Jimmy Fund.
So without further ado…
From the good people at Cronin&Co:
for our profit 