The Story Behind “The Gift of Green Bananas”
How Real Chemistry’s 2025 holiday card became a celebration of immigrants, a connection across generations, and a symbol of health and time.
By Frank Mazzola, Managing Founder and Global Chief Creative Officer, 21GRAMS
21GRAMS has always found our white space in understanding the 21 grams that makes our audiences tick. That invisible something inside every person our ideas can connect with, to move them on a level they didn’t expect by making them feel understood. Seen. Cared about enough to care in return.
In this story, that white space was green. More on that soon.
The beginning came nearly one year ago. There was a briefing for a brand in which hematology oncologists were the audience. It was, as most of our briefings are, incredible. But here, creatives are encouraged to go a step deeper and immerse themselves in the audience’s mindset. It’s an important step, specifically in healthcare; because unlike general consumer marketing, we typically don’t share the lived experience of people affected by, or treating, a disease. So, at 21GRAMS, part of our creative process is consuming every firsthand account we can find.
In doing so, a team stumbled on a story from an oncologist talking about how one of his patient’s asked if she still had “green banana time” while undergoing treatments. It was something we couldn’t get out of our heads.
This triggered a memory. Years ago, one of our ECDs, Lauren Pollina, had shared a story about her dad, and how before he passed, he used to joke about still having green banana time. We began to understand that the idea of “green banana time” was a concept that wasn’t widely known but was very personal for people and families from all walks of life.
It was a beautiful sentiment and symbol, bigger than any single brand or disease state. We decided to turn it into the briefing for Real Chemistry’s holiday card, which we’d create in partnership with Every Cure, a global nonprofit that uses AI to connect people and patients with possible life-changing therapies.
Wanting to showcase the talent of ROOM42, a full production company that we’d built from within; we gave our directors, animators, and makers a premise rather than a fully fleshed-out idea. Being part of 21GRAMS, they did what 21GRAMS does: they dug even deeper. It turned out that the idea of green bananas, as well as gifting fruit as a symbol of health and prosperity, crossed cultures.
The idea we chose leaned into the Japanese American heritage of writer/director Sarah Kambe Holland. Known for humor (and directing the Gold Lion winning work for Friedreich’s Back), the story she proposed struck an emotional chord; centered around the relationship between a first-generation Japanese grandfather (Jiichan) and his Japanese American granddaughter.
On its own, it was beautiful. But in the current cultural climate, it was also a touching and important reminder of the melting pot that America is and was always intended to be. With dialogue that’s a mixture of English and Japanese (subtitled in English), we see this multigenerational story unfold through the doorway of an immigrant. And while the story isn’t “about” that, we relate on a universal, human level. We all want to connect, be cared for, be healthy, and have time.
The cast and crew were primarily Asian American. Yes, to make sure it was authentic. But also, because it was the best possible talent to tell this story. At the end of the day, what we created wasn’t a card. Or just a film. Or simply a website you can participate in. It was a story and tradition that has moved everyone who’s seen it. In other words, we created a gift.
Please share “The Gift of Green Bananas” with anyone and everyone you love. And if you’re in a grocery store and happen to see a green banana, give it to someone who needs it. Because to be aware of, and appreciate, the time we have is a gift in itself.
