This weekend, the internet came alive over an elementary-school kid's cheeky drawing for the Gilliland & Howe Funeral Home in Greensburg, Indiana.
The illustration was created for a Greensburg Daily News contest inviting youngsters to make ads for businesses advertising in the newspaper. Originally posted on G&H's Facebook page—along with several other ads, so locals could vote for their favorite (they were taken down when voting ended)—the drawing has generated considerable attention and debate.
Here is the ad:
Some appreciate the artist's offbeat humor. Mashable calls the effort "darkly hilarious," while Metro UK notes, "there is no questioning its genius."
On Reddit, where the ad became popular, it sparked an animated conversation. Redactor Sarah-la1 asks, "Why would you ever think it's a good idea to ask children to design an advert for a funeral home?!" While Zolo49 counters, "Kids should be exposed to the concept and reality of death at least once. Otherwise they'll be completely unprepared when they have to deal with it eventually."
Some doubt the ad's veracity. "Ok, I have to call bullshit," writes SlowpokesBro. "No funeral home in their right mind would even consider including children in the process of planning a funeral, including its advertising."
Sorry, SlowpokesBro, but the ad really was drawn by a kid as part of a contest—approved by the advertisers—for students ages 8-10. (Owing to privacy concerns, the pint-sized publicist shall remain anonymous for the time being.)
"People should clearly see it was done by a child," G&H manager Leslie Thackery tells AdFreak. "You never really know where a kid is in his or her level of development. This is what a funeral home meant to him. It's an expression of creativity. He's expressing himself."
Regardless of whether the entry ultimately tops G&H's contest, it clearly won the internet. So we feel confident proclaiming it the last word—or, if you'd prefer, the living end—in funeral-home testimonials.
"We thought it was hilarious," Thackery says, adding that it's a shame people couldn't lighten up and appreciate the joke, or at least try to see things through a child's eyes.