Hari Raya festive videos in Malaysia

Over the years, ads connected to the Hari Raya celebration have become a tradition in Malaysia. Audiences expect excellence, and the nation takes pride in the advertisements, which are often tear-jerkers. Here, Campaign Asia-Pacific presents several of this year's notable Hari Raya TVCs, presented here with brief summaries, as most of them are in Malay.

Petronas: Jahit (above)

The most popular Raya video this year, this eight-minute offering was directed by Quek Shio Chuan, who also directed the brand’s Chinese New Year advertisement earlier this year. The two ads are deemed to have “saved” the brand from a string of heavily criticised previous festive advertisements.

The film shows a village family and focuses on the relationship between a single mother and her daughter, who is in her final year of high school.  

Jahit means 'sew', and the video depicts the sacrifice of the single mother, who works hard as a tailor to save money for her daughter’s college education. The daughter and a neighbour advise the single mother to take care of herself, especially with the approach of Hari Raya.

To make life easier for the mother, the daughter takes the initiative to help her mother while also studying hard at night. Finally, the daughter is admitted into a university. “With hard work and diligence, good things will come”, the ad states.

Maxis

“Sometimes, the best way to connect is to switch off”, is the moral of this story. It shows a city boy who goes back to his hometown but ignores his family in favour of his phone––playing games and listening to music. He gets frustrated when his younger cousin tells him that there is no WiFi in the area. After being admonished by an elder, he begins to spend time with the cousin, playing traditional games and forgetting about the modern gadgets he's so used to as he reminisces about the past.

It's later revealed that the younger cousin deliberately hid the broadband router so that he could connect with his older cousin.

Samsung: Family portraits

The video is about a mother living in a village who longs for her son and daughter to come back home for the festive season. She is disappointed when her son says he is not coming back, but a reminder from his sister convinces him to surprise the mother with a last-minute return. “Family is our past, present, future," the ad states. "Be with the one who truly matters.”

This video has a different storytelling pattern and feel than the above examples, and does not come across as nearly as authentic. While banking on the never-fail topic of “family”, Samsung also never forgets to sell its range of products throughout the video, so there are appearances by a television, a laptop, a fridge, a washing machine and a mobile phone.

This is a rather humorous video about a father who wants his primary-school son to fast during the year. The boy faces many temptations, including a female character on a billboard who comes to life and enjoys a sweet drink. Despite being warned by his father to keep to his fast, and despite being closely monitored by his teachers and family, the boy puts on weight after the fasting month. The tagline: “Celebrate Hari Raya with moderation and awareness”.

Proton

Even more than Samsung, Proton is hard-selling its product in this video, which shows Muslims going to a mosque for prayers on the first day of Raya. There is a lot of discussion about  the specifications of the Proton Exora model.

Takaful (insurance company)

This is the saddest Raya spot we have come across for this year (well, the saddest real one—see below). The background, narration and storyline are all depressing. It is about a young man who is working hard to support his wife and daughter, but later meets with an accident. On the way to hospital, his wife begins to worry for her future.

At the end, the husband suffers only minor injury. Two Takaful employees then go to the hospital to give the family the insurance reimbursement. The narration goes on to express her gratitude that her husband has invested in the insurance programme that gives the family a future guarantee.

Iklan Raya yang Paling Sedih (The saddest Raya ads)

This is not a brand ad, but a satirical video by Pop TV, which we shared on our Facebook page Monday. Has the trend for tragic ads perhaps gone too far?