What An AD By Petronas

We all love the festivity ads and commercials by Petronas - they are always hearfelt, nostalgic and meaningful ... remembering better times and sees the goodness in Malaysians ... that the more different we are, the more things we have in common. Well, when you have Yasmin Ahmad's sensitivity and creative brilliance, its a potent mix.

But have you seen the new Merdeka ad??? OMG, what a daring one! It shows a guy being asked to build a sampan to pay off his debt ... in the end the creditor friend gave the boat to him as a gift which will allow him to be independent and make a decent living. The new boat sank, and the tag lin at the end was in Malay but its resounding, loosely translated: Are what we putting in now able to carry us to the future, what our future will be depends on what we put in now.

Now, I don't know about you but its amazing that this was passed by the Ministry of Information. Yes, the ad was meant for all Malaysians, but one could not help but think of our government. Its very daring, its very timely ... just for that I will try to pump at Petronas as much as I can.

The nuances within the commercial is what makes it special and daring. The guy who owes money said he didn't have money to buy resources to build the sampan. The creditor friend said its OK, he can use the resources and wood available at his house to build the sampan. The symbolism, the symbolism.

Catch the ad if you can cause I believe it could be pulled off the air soon. Some bigwigs are bound to be sitting in their living room thnking, "Hey, its about .... ".