If you’re at all like me, the minute you hear Sarah McLachlan keening “in the arms of the angel” at the beginning of one of her SPCA TV spots, you either change the channel, run out of the room, or stay put and try to take a sick kind of pleasure out of torturing yourself with that sad, sad song and the sad, sad eyes of all those starved and abused and abandoned doggies and kitties. There’s never been a day so awful that these ads can’t make it worse. I’m fighting crazy-cat-lady tendencies tooth and claw already, and shit like this does not help.
You might not have seen the British-Columbia specific version, though. No need to thank me.
Now McLachlan has won this year’s Allan Waters Humanitarian Award (part of the Junos) for her community work, which includes not just this ad campaign but her advocacy of music education for underserved kids and aid to developing nations. I for one admire her ruthless effectiveness at reaching people’s wallets through their tear ducts. Gotta be cruel to be kind.