Oh, look, it’s sort of a third world Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler has finally snagged the asexual little nerd.
All joking aside, that photo is quite planned. You see them in newspapers and on the evening news all the time. The concerned Care Bear Stare and The Hug combined is a twist. Usually they’re separate photos in a series. The photographer shoots a whole roll and the editors choose the most compelling visuals.
What you’re supposed to feel and how you’re supposed to react is to think, “my, what a fine caring man, working in the slums like that, he looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and no wonder she loves him so, he’s going to save the world.”
Doesn’t hurt among the target audience for there to be a distinct Civil Rights era overtone to the whole thing, so uncharacteristic dungarees and retro black and white photo, never mind the anachronism.
It’s just as canned as Bill Clinton making a cross of rocks on the beach at Normandy, in other words.