"The Count"

4 April 2025

2 mins 12s

Life on the age.

The Hospital for Sick Children's run of kick-ass commercials continues with a spot directed by Iconoclast's Clement Durou. More than twenty SickKids patients star in 'The Count', a film all about the fight for each and every birthday. Many of us take cards, presents, and cakes for granted, but not this lot—they have to work hard to be the birthday boy or girl.

They must endure surgery, chemotherapy, physio, and more to reach the magic number, whatever it happens to be. Durou never shies away from the reality of life on the wards (there are one or two close-calls early on), but it’s the imagination where these ads take flight. Here, kids smash pinata skulls, balance on birthday candles, and fight in MMA cages lined with balloons.

The titular count, meanwhile, reaches triple figures—that’s because the advertised hospital is one hundred and fifty years old in 2025. Even if it's the big 1-5-0, the advertised hospital refuses to take a day off. How can it when it knows how hard some kids work to reach age one?

Canada

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