“If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose?”

That was the question asked to a number of parents (and later their kids) in a brilliant advertisement from Master Foods in Australia.

The parents would all choose famous people (from Nelson Mandela to Justin Bieber).

Then they invited the children and the children said things like: “Mom and Dad”, “Family”, and “Does it have to be a celebrity? Could it be family?”

I highly recommend that you watch the video.

The film is obviously created to get families to eat together more (it is paid for by a food company after all.)

But even if it is advertising I find the message very strong.

Especially the message that is sent out at 1 minute 25 seconds, where the father says: “A bit of a message there for me…” and you can tell (by the look in his eyes) that this is said by a father who has been away from too many dinners with his family.

The video ends with the slogan: “Let’s make time for the people who matter most.”

Kids knows that the answer to that question is “family” (not Justin Bieber). And so does mothers and fathers – they just need to be reminded of it once in a while. Which this video did in a very good way.

Now, go home and ask: “What are we having for dinner?” (Or even better, ask your kids: “What do you want to have for dinner?”