The surprise ending of a Guinness advertisement showing six men playing wheelchair basketball is generating high praise for illustrating the themes of “Dedication. Loyalty. Friendship.”

You can watch it here. The link published on Sept. 9 had nearly 3 million hits as of this post on Oct. 6.

The Daily Mail reported:

The Irish brewing company has done well advocating its brand message worldwide and the commercials not only live long in the memory but of course, on line through YouTube. From the hilarious, to the bold and fierce, they all have a bit of cheek. Guinness’s iconic stature is partly due to its advertising.

But MSN.com notes “the ad appears to be a blatant rip-off of this commercial from Indian company Mother Daily, but that isn’t slowing the praise it’s receiving.”

The success of the Guinness ad follows recent criticism of Arthur’s Day, named for company founder Arthur Guinness. As The New York Times reported, the late September event was “first concocted by marketing gurus in 2009 to promote the 250th of the drink so intimately associated with Ireland … but to a growing chorus of critics it is becoming a national embarrassment.” Detractors say the event insults Irish culture and promotes drunkenness.