Dads are the heroes of Dove's touching new Father's Day commercial

Dove is hoping its latest commercial will make you want to call your dad this week.

Released just in time for Father's Day, the minute-long spot is a montage of real father-child memories in the making farmed by the brand from videos across the web (with permission from the subjects).

The clips are meant to showcase the innocent joy of dads finding creative ways to goof around with their kids -- one surfs while his toddler daughter clings to his back, another hits the skatepark with his disabled son and a third wheels his son down a homemade roller coaster.

The commercial is the latest installment in a long-running campaign for the Unilever-owned brand's line of men's grooming products, Dove Men+Care, that aims to paint dads as the unsung heroes of family life. Last year, the company put together a similar reel of fathers reacting to the news of a new baby.

Jennifer Bremner, Unilever's director of marketing, said the campaign originally started as a response to what was seen as a negative and unrealistic portrayal of the father role in advertising.

Since then, more brands have announced similar missions -- most notably competitor Axe's push to celebrate male individuality -- but outmoded attitudes still abound, she says.

"While much progress has been made, and other brands have followed suit to show the realities of modern fatherhood, our culture still holds on to some of the old, unrealistic notions of masculinity, strength and heroism," Bremner told Mashable in an email.

The looks of joy on the faces of these kids are meant to be a reminder that sometimes, being a hero dad can be as simple as just having fun.

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