Samsung's Olympics commercial melds the world's national anthems into a single tune

As nativism and anti-globalization movements gain ground throughout many Western countries, the saccharine themes of world unity and peace that tend to characterize Olympic advertising might seem more potent than usual this year.

Samsung taps into this vein with its latest commercial centered on the games in Rio next month, in which it impressively blends the national anthems of 15 countries into a single coherent melody.

The minute-and-a-half spot from ad agency Leo Burnett Chicago opens on a young Australian girl singing Botswana's national anthem into a Samsung smartphone. The device is then passed to an elderly man half a world away, who contributes a line from the Australian anthem.

The pattern continues along those lines -- with people around the world singing snippets of the national songs of far-removed countries -- until the electronics company has collected enough material to form an entirely new song it calls simply "The Anthem."

Six athletes from around the world are featured in the ad including U.S. track-and-field Olympian Alysia Montano and British Olympic diver Tom Daley.

“I’m thrilled to be among the talented and strong-minded athletes featured in Samsung’s ‘Anthem,’ and to share my personal story of defying barriers with the world leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," Daley said in a statement. "I’ve overcome several obstacles throughout my athletic career, but I’m thankful for these challenges because they have made me stronger and even more determined to succeed."

With a rapt audience of hundreds of millions of TV viewers, the Olympics is an important stage for advertisers looking to reach a global crowd. As one of the official sponsors of the games, Samsung has been advertising around the event since January and will continue to roll out partnered promotions in the days leading up to the opening ceremony in August.

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