It didn’t cause quite the stir that Coke’s “America the Beautiful” in eight languages did, but LensCrafter’s new-this-week “Anthem” commercial also represents the mosaic of humanity. Instead of using voices, the eye-care company (as you might expect) uses eyes.
All people should have somebody who will, at some time or another, look deeply into their eyes.
While we’re on the subject of eyes . . .
Award-winning photojournalist Steve McCurry posts photos, grouped by theme, at his blog. For a collection of amazing photographs of eyes, interspersed with quotations and comments, go to his post from last July, “Eloquence of the Eye.”
You probably didn’t know . . .
- The human eye is less than one inch in diameter and weighs only around 1/4 ounce.
- Each blink closes the eye for 0.3 seconds. That totals about 30 minutes a day.
- An eye has over 100 million photoreceptors (rods and cones).
- 285 million people in the world are visually impaired, meaning they are blind or have moderate or severe impairment.
- Blind people in the world number 39 million. 82% of them are over the age of 50.
- The visually impaired in developing countries account for about 90% of the world’s total.
- Preventions and cures are possible for 80% of visual impairment in the world.
(“NEI Calendar,” National Eye Institute; “Visual Impairment and Blindness, Fact Sheet No. 282,” World Health Organization, October 2013)
Clearing Customs 
I’m dying to know what the music is. I know that it’s Caribbean, but I’ve been trying to figure out what it was, and who performs it ever since I first saw the commercial….I love it!
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Thanks for prompting me to look it up, Susan. I found out from LensCrafter’s Facebook page that the music is by the German composer Carl Orff and is titled “Gassenhauer nach Hans Neusiedler,” or, simply, “Gassenhauer.” Don’t know who performs it, though.
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It’s actually a kids piece of music….It’s performed by some percussion ensemble. I was hearing it in my head so much, I had to find out what it was….I’m actually a musician, and as a kid, I took some music class based on Carl Orff teachings. Funny that a piece of music written in the 1930’s or 1940’s would sound so Caribbean. I have a friend who is a Marimba player and I’m sure she’s performed it.
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The commercial was made by a French advertising company. I’m pretty sure the performers are from a band called steeloneal. I’ve listened to many performances and that one sounds exactly like the commercial.
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I noticed the French credits, too. There’s another version on YouTube with the narration done by a boy with a European accent, and a couple of the faces are different. Interesting to learn about Carl Orff.
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