We forced a Cilisos Top Fan to watch 48 Raya ads. Here’s his top 6

During the month of Ramadan, nothing reminds you that the hanging ketupats and lampu minyak tanahs of Hari Raya are coming more than the Raya ads that you’ve been skipping on YouTube.

But as this writer found out after being forced to watch 44 CNY ads back in January, some ads can actually be worth the watch. Naturally, we’re doing a similar list for Raya ads this year. Since Hari Raya is a time for sharing, we decided to share this great honor with Daniel Park, one of our Top Fans on Facebook who has now joined our exclusive panel of festival ad reviewers.

As a longtime reader and frequent commentator, Daniel’s passion for Cilisos is second only to his passion for the works of Japanese singer-songwriter YUI (citation needed). As such, we figured the best way of thanking him for his support was by making him spend an entire Saturday watching 48 Raya ads. Here’s our full list, which was finalized on April 13th.

The methodology for this is simple: We would both independently watch all 48 ads, sleep on it, and note down which ones lived rent-free in our heads the next day. If an ad smoked both our lemangs, it makes the list.

So let’s start off with an aidil example from…

1. Tudung Fazura – ADINDA

It’s a strange decision to start off with the longest video on the list, but this one made full use of its 18-minute runtime to tell a story that grips and touches you in all the right places. As Daniel sums it up – “It’s beautiful. If you’re an emotional soul that enjoys someone or something to touch on your heart strings, then you will love this one.”

It has all the common Raya messages of family, forgiveness, and sacrifice; but it doesn’t need a narrator to tell you. You’ve already felt them because you saw yourself in both sisters, the mother, and the husband.

2. Julie’s Biscuits – Kisah Raya P.E.R.I.T

Julie’s ad this year is a love letter (geddit? geddit?) to old-school spy movies interlaced with modern social themes. It addresses the social judgements faced by single mothers, has super obvious product placements, Dr. Evil-esque supervillain plots, and even a middle-finger scene (pixelated of course) IN A RAYA AD.

Nothing here should work, but it’s done so brilliantly that you’ll need to have the personality of a soggy serunding to not appreciate how creative this is.

3. Guardian – Guardian Raya Untuk Semua

While many good ads take a while to build momentum, Guardian’s ad throws you right in the middle of a modern-day P. Ramlee musical. The songs are catchy enough to be on your balik kampung playlist, it’s colorful, and it just oozes festivity. Plus, as Daniel mentions, Yasmin Khalid & Afeefa are so pretty ~ Oh My Gawd ~ 😍

This is also the only ad to include a blooper reel at the end, which adds authenticity to the feeling that the actors were all having a great time.

4. Lembaga Zakat Selangor – BAKTI

After Petronas and Yasmin Ahmad popularized tearjerker ads, many companies have gone the Night of a Thousand Tears route with varying levels of success. And to be honest, it’s not hard to extract a tear by bombarding us with sad scenes and sloe violin music. But among the many Opocot-ibu-aku-dah-mati-sebab-aku-anak-derhaka ads, Bakti stands out to us because it was the only one that gave nuance and perspective.

Essentially, the story centers around a character named Bakti (See? Nuance!) who tirelessly works to help the underprivileged communities while inadvertently pushing his mother aside. To us, it brings the message that you don’t necessarily earn pahala when you menghala away from the people who raised you; but perhaps you might see it as an allegory for trying to fix the world while ignoring what’s truly important. Nuance!

5. RHB – Pengembaraan Sempurna

When two people write the exact same notes on why they liked an ad, you know the people behind RHB’s ad did something right. We both liked the presentation, the commentary – Daniel calls it David Attenborough-like – and the messaging that not all heroes wear capes.

The video is a whole 4 minutes of a newfound friendship between a disabled boy and a pakcik who helps him out of a tight situation. And the feelings hit home when you find out the pakcik is Ramli Aziz, a disabled ex-policeman who makes tricycles for disabled kids out of discarded parts.

Behold, our solo picks!

Obviously we weren’t going to see eye-to-eye on everything, so we made an allowance to feature an ad that one of us really liked, but the other didn’t pick because he has no taste.

6. KitKat – Sambut Raya Lebih Bermakna Bila #RezekiDikongsiBersama (Daniel’s Solo Pick)

As someone who professes a soft spot for cartoons and cute things like Japanese singer-songwriter YUI, Daniel says he had to include this KitKat ad for its catchy song and cute animations. That chocolate ketupat is legit cute tho.

7. SAFI – Jodoh Syafiderella (UiHua’s Solo Pick)

Tbh, it was a hard choice between this and a horror-themed ad… speaking of which, why are horror-themed Raya ads a thing this year??

But in the end, Syafiderella won out since I found myself smiling a second time while watching both videos again to make a decision. I liked the Malaysianized take on a Disney classic, comical evil stepsisters, and the fantasy that, perhaps, I too will have a handsome prince sweep me off my – no wait…..