A Cut Above

A slightly reliable source mentioned that the country’s “kereta potong” logo was inspired by the 1980s “ThunderCats” logo. I couldn’t stop laughing while reading that whole "kereta potong" article- not sure why…

Translation of the phrase, “kereta potong”, would mean “cut car”.

Here’s an advertising campaign that I would consider somewhat a cut above the rest due to the publicity garnered so far…

Translation of "Sudah Potong?" = "Cut Already?"

At first glance, the perverted mind would immediately go, "Huh? Oh my gosh, cut what? Cut what??"

An effective advertisement would generally refer to an advertisement that is able to interest, intrigue and inspire a viewer, persuade the consumer that a certain product is worth buying and in turn generate more sales for the manufacturer successfully.

The Star, page N23, 31 October 2009.

Saw this controversial-by-local-standards ad in The Star newspaper on 31 October 2009 (page N23). As you flip through the pages, you’ll soon reach page N54 with a news report titled “Groups want suggestive ad snipped”, also published on 31 October 2009.

The Star, page N54, 31 October 2009.

Now that almost felt like a situation where there’s a special news report on “The Dangers of Drinking” and on the next page, you get to see an uber-cool (yet extremely subtle) advertisement paying homage to the famous brewer, Arthur Guinness, in the form of an “Arthur’s Day” get-together at Sunway Lagoon, hooray…

Digression: Contemporary Guinness Draught and Extra Stout are weaker than they were in the 19th century, when they had an original gravity of over 1.070. Foreign Extra Stout and Special Export Stout, with abv over 7%, are perhaps closest to the original in character (abv = Alcohol by Volume).

Just to comment on a few sentences from this news report- just for fun:

Blogger Teo Bak Kim said he was surprised that the commercial was approved when the Government was well known to be strict in advertisement regulations.

Hey, you know what- I, myself, was surprised too when I saw so many of those advertisements plastered across so many billboards along the North-South highway. They were so interesting that I ended up taking photos of them (for blogging purposes). There were so many of those eye-catching advertisements put up that I finally lost count of the number of times I had to stare out from the car window, wondering if the country was finally ready to “open up” and “face the world”- until I saw the news report, that is.

I think the fact that this form of advertising was approved in the first place was because those who had approved it happened to be innocent bonsai kittens with nary a shred of perversion and sinfulness lingering in their little minds, unlike those who cried a river and drowned the whole world over it.

Wanita MCA chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said she would write to the company and demand that the advertisement be pulled out.

“The company should apologise because the advertisement is insulting and it discriminates against women,” she said.

The reporter who used the phrase “pulled out” deserves to be sued and sent back to kindergarten!! That phrase reeked, and still reeks, of utterly unmentionable links to irresponsible acts of debauchery and subnormal human deviance!!

Kindly ignore the above paragraph. I was overreacting. Yes, I agree the advertisement is insulting in the local sense due to various sociological factors, but in terms of the “discriminates against women” part, I don’t think so. Women should feel empowered, knowing that many perverts have now been rendered hopeless due to this insanely successful cutting campaign which, sad to say, just ended… This blog is akin to that of a rubbish dump. You may skip reading this whole story if you want to.

Note the “HURRY! This offer ends in 2 days” notification in the ad.

In a way, the pictorial and linguistic attributes of this advertisement were so unbelievably effective that it had attracted so much attention to the extent where almost every perverted mind in the country immediately identified a dirty connotation to this imaginatively-albeit-outrageously-created concept.

I guess most of us have never brought up such a sensitive topic each time we talked to and joked with our office colleagues, basketball team-mates, shopping-and-gossiping gang, golf buddies, drinking buddies, and buddies of all kinds, and that most of us are nothing but innocent bonsai kittens with squeaky clean minds and hearts...

Definitely not Malaysia

An effective advertisement is not one that is specified to the various elements of an advertisement, but rather, is able to function because of the appropriate elements manipulated in the advertiser's favour and how all the elements are able to combine and conjure an effective advertisement. In other words, a perfect picture would be nothing without a witty tagline, the best portrayed images would be nothing without matching background music and the most eye-catching colours used in an advertisement would mean nothing without appropriate movement that is employed to reiterate the point. Many things come into play when creating an advertisement and many of these elements can contribute to the creativity by which advertisers can place in the advertisement.